The National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street (") is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland located on Kildare Street in Dublin, Ireland, that specialises in Irish and other antiquities dating from the Stone Age to the Late Middle Ages.

The museum was established under the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. ccxxxiv). Before, its collections had been divided between the Royal Dublin Society and the Natural History Museum on Merrion Street."1877-1899: The Science and Art Museum, Dublin ". NMI. Retrieved 15 August 2021 The museum was built by the father and son architects Thomas Newenham Deane and Thomas Manly Deane. The rotunda at the front of the National Museum matches that of the National Library of Ireland, which face each other across the front of Leinster House.

The National Museum of Ireland's collection contains artifacts from prehistoric Ireland including bog bodies, Iron and Bronze Age objects such as axe heads, swords and shields in bronze, silver and gold, with the earliest dated to c. 7000 BC. It holds the world's most substantial collection of post-Roman era Irish medieval art (known as Insular art). In addition, it houses a substantial collection of medieval metalwork, Viking artefacts including swords and coins, and classical objects from Ancient Egypt, Cyprus and the Roman world.

History

The impetus for creating the museum was the 1877 Dublin Science and Art Museum Act, which combined the collections of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and Royal Dublin Society (RDS). This new law was enacted because the RIA recognised it needed government funding to continue its acquisition program and because becoming a state body allowed easier collaboration with the British Museum and National Museum of Scotland."History of the Organisation ". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 7 January 2022 The project was overseen by the palaeontologist Alexander Carte."Deane, Thomas Newenham, Sir ". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Retrieved 8 January 2022"History of the Library: 1877 to 1926 ". National Library of Ireland. Retrieved 8 January 2022"The National Museum of Science and Art ". Library Ireland. Retrieved 9 January 2022

Among other early sources for the museum’s collection were works held by Trinity College Dublin and the Geological Survey of Ireland.Rudolph (2019), "National Museum of Ireland, Dublin" These included such major pieces as the Cross of Cong (which the RIA acquired from an Augustinian priory in County Mayo) and the Domnach Airgid (acquired in 1847). In the mid-nineteenth century, the museum also acquired the collections of academy members such as Henry Sirr and Petrie (who left some 1500 artifacts, including 900 from pre-history, six crosiers, and a number of bells and bell shrines).Overbe (2012), p. 22

Many of these pieces had been found in the 19th century by agricultural labourers when population expansion and new machinery led to the cultivation of land that had not been touched since the Middle Ages. George Petrie of the RIA and others who were members of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland intervened to prevent these metalwork artifacts from being melted down and repurposed as mere metal. Discovery of such objects continues to the present day; recent major discoveries include the 8th century Tully Lough Cross, found in 1986, and the Clonycavan bog bodies, found in 2003."Kingship and Sacrifice ". National Museum of Ireland, 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2021

In 1908, the museum was renamed the National Museum of Science and Art, and in 1921, following Irish independence, it was renamed the National Museum of Ireland.

Building and interior The original museum was titled the Dublin Museum of Science and Art, and located between the Royal Dublin Society in Leinster House and the Natural History Museum in Merrion Street.Buckley, Dan. "National Museum of Ireland: 19th-century vision with 21st-century purpose ". Irish Examiner, 29 August 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2022 The museum's storage and display requirements became too large for these locations, and a new museum was built on Kildare Street. Opened on 29 August 1890, it was designed by Thomas Newenham Deane and his son, Thomas Manly Deane, in the Victorian Palladian style. The columns around the entrance and the domed rotunda are made from Irish marble and bear influence from both 18th century neoclassical designKelly (2007), p. 4Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 14 and the Pantheon in Rome. The stone on the exterior is mostly Leinster granite, with the columns formed from sandstone excavated at Mountcharles, County Donegal.Kelly (2007), p. 5

The mosaic floors in the interior contain scenes from classical mythology. Although laid out in the 19th century by the Manchaster-based artist Ludwig Oppenheimer, they were covered for decades until cleaned and restored in 2011. The wooden doors were carved by either William Milligan of Dublin or Carlo Cambi of Siena, Italy, while the fireplaces contain majolica tiles by the UK-based Burmantofts Pottery.Kelly (2011), p. 109 The balcony of the central court is held by rows of thin cast-iron columns containing ornate capitals decorated with groups of cherubs.

Collection The NMI has a number of large permanent exhibits, mainly of Irish historical objects and also a few smaller exhibits on the ancient Mediterranean, including galleries on Ancient Egypt, as well as "Ceramics and Glass from Ancient Cyprus".Ceramics and Glass from Ancient Cyprus ". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 31 May 2021

Prehistoric Stone age to early metallurgy The museum's prehistoric Ireland exhibit contains artefacts from the earliest period of human habitation in Ireland (just after the Last Glacial Period) up to the Celtic Iron Age. The collection includes numerous stone implements created by the first hunter-gatherer colonists from around 7000 BC, as well as tools, pottery and burial objects left by Neolithic farmers. Some notable artefacts include four rare Jadeite axeheads imported from the Alps of Neolithic Italy, and the unique ceremonial macehead discovered at the tomb of Knowth.Flint Mace-Head . NMI. Retrieved 7 January 2022 The exhibit then covers the introduction of metallurgy into Ireland around 2500 BC, with early copper implements.

The museum has a large array of later Bronze Age period axes, daggers, swords, shields, cauldrons and cast bronze horns (the earliest known Irish musical instruments).Kelly (2007), pp. 10–13 There are a few very early Iron weapons. Wooden objects include a large dugout logboat, wooden wheels and cauldrons and ancient reed fishing equipment.

Bronze age and goldwork The NMI's collection of Bronze Age goldwork ranges from c. 2200 to 1800 B.C and is considered one of the "largest and most important" in Western Europe.Kelly (2007), p. 15 The gold was recovered from river gravel and hammered into thin sheets used to create objects such as crescent-shaped collars (Gold lunula), bracelets and dress-fasteners. Most of the goldwork is probably jewellery, but many of the objects of are of unknown (possibly ritual) function.

By the middle Bronze Age new goldwork techniques were developed; from around 1200 BC a great variety of torcs were produced from twisting bars of gold. Items from the late Bronze Age (that is from c. 900 BC) include solid gold bracelets, dress-fasteners, large sheet gold collars, ear-spools and a necklace of hollow golden balls."A Late Bronze Age gold necklace from Tumna, Co. Roscommon ". Irish Archaeology. Retrieved 8 January 2022

Bog bodies (Iron age)

The museum contains a number of well-preserved Irish bog bodies dating to the Iron Age, some of which are believed to have been ritualistically sacrificed.Kelly (2007), pp. 78-79"Bog Bodies of the Iron Age: Gallagh Man ". PBS. Retrieved 14 May 2021 The archaeologist Eamonn Kelly developed the theory that the bodies were tribal kings sacrificed by the community after failed in their kingship, drowned in pools of water at the boundary points of the tribal territory. Some seem to exhibit evidence of the so-called threefold death practice of strangulation, wounding and drowning. The bog bodies in the collection are Cashel Man (c. 2000 BC), believed to be the oldest fleshed bog body found in Europe,Kelly, Eamonn. "The bog body from Cashel Bog, Co. Laois ". Ossory, Laois and Leinster, volume 5, 2012 Gallagh Man (470-120 BC),Croffey, Amy. "Ancient bog body found in Meath ". TheJournal.ie, 10 December 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2021 Clonycavan Man (392 to 201 BC), Old Croghan Man (362 to 175 BC), and Baronstown West Man (242 to 388 AD).

The bodies in the NMI's collection are males aged 25 to 40 years old who died in violent and perhaps ritualistic circumstances.Bentley (2015), p. 36 The withy hoop found around Gallagh Man's neck was probably used as a garrotte to strangle him; Although he may have been a criminal who was executed,Haughton (2019), p. 108 the willow rope strongly suggests ritual sacrifice as they often appear for this purpose in early Irish mythological stories.Kelly (Scéal na Móna, 2006), p. 58

The bodies are shown alongside examples of the material culture of the Celtic Iron Age period, including metal weapons, horse trappings and wooden and leather pieces, including the Ralaghan Idol, an Iron Age carved wooden figure found in County Cavan.Rynne (1972), pp. 3, 84

Early Medieval The museum's treasury room exhibits early medieval Christian and secular Irish metalwork dating from the late Iron Age to the late 12th century, and contains important pieces from both the La Tène and Insular periods.Kelly (2007), p. 21 The earlier works shows growing influences from the Anglo-Saxon art from England as well as the Germanic areas of Europe, while many of the pieces after the late 8th century show the influence of Viking art.Kelly (2011), p. 110

Chalices, crosses, reliquaries, crucifixion plaques The displays in the Treasury room are arranged chronologically, beginning with pieces such as the late 7th century Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque, one of the earliest extant representations of the crucifixion in Irish art, and outside of illuminated manuscripts a rare example of both representation and a narrative scene in early Insular art.O'Toole (2013)

Bell shrines are among the most numerous early medieval artifacts to survive. The best known examples in the museum's collection are St. Columba's bell and the bell and shrine of St. Patrick.Mullarkey, Paul. "Colmcille 1500 Lecture Series: The many phases of the shrine of the Cathach ". National Museum of Ireland, 10 November 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2022Mahr (1939), p. 63

The so-called "Golden Age" of Irish art begins with ecclesiastical metalwork produced from the 8th-century, mainly reliquaries and liturgical vessels, including the 8th century Moylough Belt-Shrine and the 8th or 9th century Ardagh and Derrynaflan chalices. The impact of the Viking invasion can be seen in Irish metalwork after the early 10th century, both in an expansion of the available materials such as silver and amber, and the absorption of Scandinavian techniques and styles. This period coincides with an era of church reform Church and the beginning of secular patronage for artwork.Kelly (2011), p. 111

As many of these objects were lost in antiquity and only re-discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries, the museum has played a key role in dating, restoring and preserving newly found objects. Major recent finds include the Tully Lough Cross, found in County Roscommon in 1986,Kelly, Eamonn. "The Tully Lough cross ". Archaeology Ireland, volume 17, no. 2, issue 64, 2003 and the Faddan More Psalter (c. 800 AD), discovered in a bog in July 2006 in the townland of Faddan More in north County Tipperary, which is held in an adjacent gallery to the Treasury."The Treasury ". National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 26 June 2021

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