National Museum of Ireland – Natural History

Over het museum

The building on Merrion Street was put up in 1856 to house parts of the collection of the Royal Dublin Society and opened in 1857. It was designed by Frederick Clarendon and has a cast-iron frame with a granite and Portland stone exterior. In 1877 the institution passed into state ownership as part of the Museum of Science and Art, and today it is one of the four sites of the National Museum of Ireland.

The museum is often called a museum of a museum, because its Victorian galleries and display cases changed very little over more than a century. Its cabinets held mammals, birds, insects and marine life from Ireland and from around the world, including skeletons of the Irish giant deer, a basking shark, a dodo skeleton and whale skeletons hung from the roof. The collection as a whole is estimated at about two million specimens.

The upper galleries were closed in 2010 because they were unsafe for visitors, and the whole museum shut in 2020 so that the whale skeletons and thousands of specimens could be removed. Only the ground floor reopened, in 2022. Since 1 September 2024 the whole building has been closed for a full refurbishment that will improve accessibility, conservation and learning spaces. The museum expects the work to take several years. Meanwhile a Dead Zoo Lab at the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks shows a selection of favourite specimens.

Hoogtepunten

• Victorian galleries preserved almost unchanged since 1857
• Giant Irish deer skeletons and the basking shark
• Blaschka glass models of marine animals
• Spoticus the giraffe, now shown in the Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks

Opgericht

1857

Beheerder

National Museum of Ireland

Toegangsprijzen & kortingen

De toegang is gratis.

Admission to all National Museum of Ireland sites is free.

Toegankelijkheid

• Rolstoeltoegankelijk: geen informatie
• Lift: geen informatie
• Aangepast toilet: geen informatie
• Gehandicaptenparkeerplaats: geen informatie
• Hulphonden welkom: geen informatie
• Tastmodellen / voelbare objecten: geen informatie
• Rondleidingen in gebarentaal: geen informatie
• Informatie in eenvoudige taal: geen informatie
• Audiodescriptie: geen informatie

The refurbishment is intended to fix long-standing accessibility problems, including lifts, internal staircases and the upper balcony areas.

Kinderen & gezin

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

Bereikbaarheid & parkeren

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

Service & horeca

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

Evenementen & zaalverhuur

Het museum heeft hierover geen informatie gepubliceerd.

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