Gallery honours quarry for storing art in WWII

THE National Gallery has unveiled a new piece of art which commemorates a Welsh quarry that housed the country's paintings during the Second World War.

- LAUREN DEL FABBRO

Art from the National Gallery - including Rembrandt's Saskia as Flora - being stored at Manod Quarry during World War II. Inset, the Manod Slate Tablet

(GETTY ARCHIVE)

The tablet, made from slate taken from north Wales, has inscriptions in both Welsh and English honouring Manod quarry in Eryri (Snowdonia).

It reads “Daw’r llechen hon o chwarel Manod yng Ngogledd Cymru lle cafodd paentiadau’r Oriel Genedlaethol eu diogelu yn ystod yr Ail Ryfel Byd” which translates to “This slate is from Manod quarry in North Wales where the National Gallery's paintings were protected during World War II”.

Following the outbreak of war, the National Gallery moved its art to the Manod mine, with the whole collection rehomed by the summer of 1941.