Guide to Museums in:


Armagh

Belfast

Enniskillen

NORTHERN IRELAND

BELFAST MUSEUMS

The Ulster Museum is located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast. Its collections features material from fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial archaeology, botany, zoology and geology. It is the largest museum in Northern Ireland, it is also part of the National Museums Northern Ireland. The Ulster Museum contains important collections of Irish birds, mammals, insects, molluscs, marine invertebrates, flowering plants, algae and lichens, as well as an archive of books and manuscripts relating to Irish natural history. There is also a collection of rocks, minerals and fossils. The Zoology Department maintains collections of Wildlife Art. Works by Peter Scott, Joseph Wolf, Eric Ennion, John Gerrard Keulemans, Roger Tory Peterson, Charles Tunnicliffe, Robert Gillmor and Archibald Thorburn are included. The herbarium in the Ulster Museum is based on specimens from Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society (founded in 1821); the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club (founded in 1863); the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery (formed 1905) and the herbarium (BFT) of the Botany Departmeny of Queen's University, Belfast acquired in 1968. In total the number of specimens is more than 100,000. Although specimens from Northern Ireland are well represented, specimens from elsewhere in the world have been acquired by donation, exchange and purchase. All branches of the world's flora are represented: algae, lichens, fungi, mosses and pteridophytes (ferns), conifers and angiosperms. The museum also maintains a natural history website named Habitas.

For more information and enquiries please contact Ulster Museum, Botanic Gardens, Belfast, BT9 5AB, Tel: +44 (0) 845 608 0000, E-mail: info@nmni.com

Ulster Museum, Belfast
Re-opening Day, 22 October 2009
Photograph © Ardfern

Belfast Exposed was Northern Ireland's first dedicated photographic gallery. Established in Belfast in 1983, it houses a gallery for the exhibition of contemporary photography, digital archive browsing facilities, a spacious black and white photographic darkroom and a digital editing suite in its Donegall Street premises. The gallery has focussed on the production of socially and politically engaged work, the development and exhibition of community photography. Belfast Exposed hosts an archive of half a million images, which were to be published online in a digital archive by March 2004. The gallery is used an a venue during both the Belfast Film Festival and the Belfast Festival at Queen's.

For more information and enquiries please contact Belfast Exposed Photography, The Exchange Place, 23 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2FF, Tel: +44 02890 230965, E-mail: info@belfastexposed.org

Belfast Exposed on Donegall Street
Photograph © Ardfern

The Linen Hall Library is located at 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast. It is the oldest library in Belfast and the last subscribing library in Northern Ireland. The Library is physically in the centre of Belfast, and more generally at the centre of the cultural and creative life of the wider community. It is an independent and charitable body. In addition to providing a free public reference service and a general lending service for both adults and children the Library also houses several special collections. It is the leading centre for "Irish and Local Studies" in Northern Ireland which includes its comprehensive stock of "Early Belfast and Ulster printed books", periodicals and newspapers dating back as far as 1738 and a wide variety of archive and manuscript material. It also contains an extensive collection of maps (some of great historical interest) and extensive materials in the Irish language. Its "Northern Ireland Political Collection" collected since 1968 contains 250,000 items and is the definitive archive of the recent troubles, containing material looking at all sides of the conflict. It also houses collections devoted to genealogy, the poet Robert Burns and Northern Irish performing art.

For more information and enquiries please contact Linen Hall Library, 17 Donegall Square North, Belfast, BT1 5GB, Northern Ireland, Tel: +44 (0)28 9032 1707, E-mail: info@linenhall.com

Linen Hall Library in Belfast

Thee Royal Ulster Rifles Museum is located in the Cathedral Quarter, Belfast at 5 Waring Street. The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968. The museum's artefacts include uniforms, badges, medals, regimental memorabilia, trophies, paintings and photographs.

For more information and enquiries please contact Royal Ulster Rifles Museum, (83rd 86th, R. Irish Rifles), 5 Waring Street, Belfast, BT1 2EW, Tel: 028 9023 2086, E-mail: dir@amot.demon.co.uk

The Golden Thread Gallery claims to be Northern Ireland’s leading international contemporary art space, rooted in the local. The gallery offers residents and visitors to Belfast a programme of contemporary art exhibitions and participatory events. As one of Northern Irelands largest visual arts venues the Golden Thread Gallery acts as a platform for a mix of international and local artists, hosting six large-scale exhibitions in the main gallery spaces and twelve exhibitions in its project space. It has also developed a program to facilitate exhibitions of Northern Irish art in other venues across the globe. The Golden Thread Gallery is free to the Public and is funded By the Arts Council of Northern Ireland; Arts Council of Northern Ireland National Lottery; Belfast City Council and supported by RMI and ASHP YEHA.

For more information and enquiries please contact The Golden Thread Gallery, 84-94 Great Patrick Street, Belfast. BT1 2LU,Tel: +44(0)28 9033 0920 E-mail: info@gtgallery.co.uk