Guide to Museums in:


Cork

Dublin

Galway

Kerry

Limerick

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND

DUBLIN MUSEUMS

The National Museum of Ireland is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland located on Kildare Street in Dublin. It has a strong emphasis on Irish art, culture and natural history. The Archaeology section on Kildare Street has displays on prehistoric Ireland, including early work in gold, church treasures and the Viking and medieval periods. There are special displays of items from Egypt, Cyprus and the Roman world. his section includes such pieces as the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch, as well as the Broighter Gold and the Derrynaflan Hoard, all famous examples of early medieval metalwork in Ireland.

For general enquiries Tel: +353 1 6777444 for bookings Tel: +353 1 6486453 or 1890 687386,
E-mail: bookings@museum.ie / marketing@museum.ie

National Museum of Ireland, Dublin
Photograph © Mike Peel

The National Museum of Ireland - Decorative Arts & History is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland located at the former Collins Barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland. The main focus of the galleries is on arts, craft and wares, including exhibits on: Irish coins and currency, silverware, furniture, folklife and costumes, ceramics, glassware, etc. Included are artifacts such as Etruscan vases, gauntlets worn by King William at Battle of the Boyne, a life belt and oar salvaged from the wreck of the RMS Lusitania and a pocket book carried by Wolfe Tone whilst imprisoned in the Barracks.

For more information and enquirieries Tel: +353 1 6777444 for bookings Tel: +353 1 6486453 or 1890 687386,
E-mail: marketing@museum.ie / bookings@museum.ie

The Dublin Writers Museum was opened in November 1991 at No 18, Parnell Square, Dublin. The museum occupies an original 18th-century house, which accommodates the museum rooms, library, gallery and administration area. The museum was established to promote interest, through its collection, displays and activities, in Irish literature as a whole and in the lives and works of individual Irish writers. Through its association with the Irish Writers' Centre it provides a link with living writers and the international literary scene. On a national level it acts as a centre, simultaneously pulling together the strands of Irish literature and complementing the smaller, more detailed museums devoted to individuals like James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats and Patrick Pearse. It functions as a place where people can come from Dublin, Ireland and abroad to experience the phenomenon of Irish writing both as history and as actuality. The writers featured in the Museum are those who have made an important contribution to Irish or international literature or, on a local level, to the literature of Dublin. It is a view of Irish literature from a Dublin perspective. The museum also includes portraits of Irish writers, including fine originals by artists such as Patrick Swift, Reginald Gray, Edward McGuire and Harry Kernoff.

For more information and enquiries please contact Dublin Writer's Museum, 18 Parnell Square North, Dublin 1, Ireland, Tel: +353 (0)1 872-2077, E-mail: writers@dublintourism.ie

Writers Museum, Parnell Square, Dublin
Photograph © Sir James

Dublin Castle is located off Dame Street, Dublin. Until 1922 Dublin Castle was a fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century. Dublin Castle fulfilled a number of roles through its history. Originally built as a defensive fortification for the Norman city of Dublin, it later evolved into a royal residence. The State Apartments, located in the southern range of buildings of the Upper Yard, contain the rooms formerly used by the Lord Lieutenant for personal accommodation and public entertaining during the Castle Season. Today these richly decorated rooms are used by the Irish Government for official engagements including policy launches, hosting of State Visit ceremonial, and the inauguration of the President every seven years. The principal rooms of the State Apartments include: Saint Patrick's Hall, the Throne Room, the State Drawing Room, the State Dining Room, the State Bedrooms and the State Corridor.

For more information and enquiries please contact Dublin Castle, 2 Palace St, Dublin 2, Co. Dublin, Ireland, Tel: +353 1 645 8813, E-mail: dublincastle@opw.ie

Dublin Castle, Upper Yard
The Bedford Tower of 1761
Photograph © Donaldytong

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Ireland's Natural History Museum is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland, is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin. The Irish Room, the ground floor of the museum, displays Irish animals, notably several mounted skeletons of Giant Irish deer. Numerous skulls of those and other deer line the walls, and many other specimens are not on display. . Stuffed and mounted mammals, birds, fish — and insects and other animals native to or found in Ireland — comprise the rest of the ground floor. Many of the specimens of currently extant animals, such as badgers, hares, and foxes, are over a century old.. Stuffed and mounted mammals, birds, fish — and insects and other animals native to or found in Ireland — comprise the rest of the ground floor. Many of the specimens of currently extant animals, such as badgers, hares, and foxes, are over a century old.

For general enquiries Tel: +353 1 6777444 for bookings Tel: +353 1 6486453 or 1890 687386,
E-mail: bookings@museum.ie / marketing@museum.ie

Ireland's Natural History Museum, Dublin
Photograph © MrFinland

The James Joyce Centre is a museum dedicated to promoting an understanding of the life and works of James Joyce. The Centre is situated in a restored 18th-century Georgian townhouse at 35 North Great George's Street Dublin, dating from a time when the north inner city of Dublin was at the height of its grandeur. On permanent exhibit is furniture from Paul Leon's apartment in Paris, where Joyce wrote much of Finnegans Wake, and the door to number 7 Eccles Street — home to Leopold Bloom, one of the more famous addresses in literature — which had been rescued from demolition by John Ryan. Temporary exhibitions interpret and illuminate various aspects of Joyce's life and work.

For general enquiries please contact The James Joyce Centre, 35 North Great George's Street, Dublin 1, Ireland, Tel: +353 1 878 8547, E-mail: info@jamesjoyce.ie

The Irish Museum of Modern Art also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution exhibiting and collecting modern and contemporary art. The Museum presents a wide variety of art and artists' ideas in a dynamic programme of exhibitions, which regularly includes bodies of work from the Museum's own Collection. The museum is located in Royal Hospital Kilmainham, a 17th-century building near Heuston Station to the west of Dublin's city centre. The Museum concentrates on acquiring contemporary art by living artist and buys only from primary markets: studios and galleries. The Museum also has community and education programmes and a national programme whereby it exhibits works from its collection in other venues.

For general enquiries please contact The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Royal Hospital, Military Road , Kilmainham, Dublin 8, Ireland, Tel: +353-1-6129900, E-mail: info@imma.ie

Courtyard of the Irish Museum of Modern Art
Photograph © William Murphy

The National Leprechaun Museum is a museum dedicated to leprechauns which has operated between Jervis Street and Middle Abbey Street (on 1 Jervis Street) in Dublin. It claims to be the first leprechaun museum in the world. Visitors to the museum follow a guided tour involving several different rooms; voiceovers are also used. The basics of leprechaun folklore are explained, including what it is that defines a leprechaun. A history of leprechaun references in popular culture is included, including Walt Disney's visit to Ireland which led to his 1959 film Darby O'Gill and the Little People. There is a tunnel full of optical illusions, a wooden replica of the Giant's Causeway in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and a room where items such as furniture become unusually large to give the effect that the visitor has become smaller in size.

For general enquiries please contact The National Leprechaun Museum, Jervis Street, Dublin 1, Ireland, Telephone: +353 1 873 3899, E-mail: rainbow@leprechaunmuseum.ie