Temple of Peace, Cardiff
| Temple of Peace and Health | |
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| Location | Cathays Park, Cardiff |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 51°29′14″N 3°11′00″W / 51.48733°N 3.18329°W |
| Built | 1937-8 |
| Architect | Sir Percy Thomas |
| Architectural style(s) | 1930s German/Italian public building style |
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Listed Building – Grade II
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| Official name: Temple of Peace & Health | |
| Designated | 19 May 1975 |
| Reference no. | 13740 |
The Welsh National Temple of Peace and Health, known as the Temple of Peace and Health, is a non-religious civic building in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, in the United Kingdom. It was designed by the architect Sir Percy Thomas. Since its foundation the building has always served a dual function as headquarters for health and international affairs organisations.
The centre's conference and seminar facilities include the 200 capacity marble Main Hall, the 50 capacity wood-panelled Council Chamber and the smaller 20 capacity meeting room. The venue has parking nearby and is within walking distance of the northern city centre. It can also be reached by rail transport from Cathays railway station.
The Temple of Peace and Health was the brainchild of David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, and was conceived to serve two purposes. The first was to provide a home for the King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association, a voluntary organisation dedicated to the prevention, treatment and eradication of tuberculosis, which had been founded by Lord Davies in 1910. Davies was also the founding president of the Welsh National Council of the League of Nations Union, and in 1934 he pledged £58,000 towards the erection of a building to house the two organisations.
Lord Davies wished for the Temple of Peace and Health to be "a memorial to those gallant men from all nations who gave their lives in the war that was to end war" and so it was dedicated to the memory of those who laid down their lives in that war. Davies had fought in the trenches during this war, and was actively involved in the search for stable international order through the League of Nations and the League of Nations Union. He wanted to see the establishment of a strong International Police force so that international agreement and peace could be obtained. Born in 1880, he died on 16 June 1944, before the Second World War ended, but was continually stressing, as in a letter of 1943, "the vital importance of arousing our people to the need for an International Authority", posing the question "what doth it profit a nation if it gains the whole world and loses its own soul?"
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