The National Museum of Ireland
The historical and archaeological treasures of Ireland are housed in this extraordinary Victorian Palladian style building designed by Sir Thomas Deane and built during the 1880’s. Its beautiful rotunda is capped by a graceful, 62-foot-high dome. The floor inside is inlaid with a detailed mosaic of the zodiac.
The museum itself was established in 1890, and the treasures inside include articles and exhibits beginning from prehistoric times, through the medieval, and up to the present. Major exhibits include:
•The exhibit of Ireland’s precious gold artworks, known as Ór. It contains ancient jewelry and art from as far back as 1800 B.C.
•The Treasury, which houses the Tara Brooch – found in County Meath and dating back to the 8th century – made of white bronze, amber and glass and decorated with a delicate gold filigree. Also included in this exhibit is The Cross of Cong, from 1123, an ornate oak processional cross that displays extraordinary craftsmanship for the times, including silver and bronze panels, and the Ardagh Chalice, a silver cup with gold filigree from the 8th century.
•The Road to Independence exhibit, which focuses on 1900-1921 and the important historical events that took place during those years. It displays uniforms, weapons and banners, including the remains of the flag that flew over the General Post Office in Dublin during the Easter Rising of 1916.
•The Viking Exhibit includes a full-sized skeleton, swords, and other items found in and around Dublin, along with a replica of a Viking boat.
•Prehistoric Exhibits display weapons and tools from the Stone and Bronze Ages. Burial customs are explained using reconstructions of actual graves. Also interesting and amusing is the collection of Sheela Na Gigs, ancient stone carvings of female figures, and the Lugan Bog Boat, recovered from a bog in Galway in 1902 and estimated to come from as far back as 2500 B.C.
St. Patrick’s Bell, dating back to sometime in the 5th-8th century, is made from iron coated with bronze and is one of the country’s oldest surviving examples of metalwork. The Treasury Exhibits are remarkable in that they show how early Christianity inspired the Irish people to create remarkable works of art while the rest of Europe was engulfed in the Dark Ages.