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DUBLIN’S MUSEUMS, ART GALLERIES AND LIBRARIES |
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National Museum, Kildare Street, houses various collections, some of outstanding merit and worldwide fame. The Irish Antiquities, Irish Military History, Ethnographical, Art, Industrial and Botanical collections are housed in the Kildare Street building. The main natural history collection is in Merrion Street. The National Gallery, Merrion Square, was opened in 1864 and the paintings on display, with a few exceptions, are the works of earlier European masters. The collection contains over 6,000 paintings. George Bernard Shaw left a third of his estate to the gallery. The National Library, Kildare Street (see National Museum). The library has important collections of books, manuscripts, prints, drawings and historical archives. Chester Beatty Library, 20 Shrewsbury Road , Ballsbridge. This library contains a valuable collection of Islamic, Far Eastern and Western manuscripts, bindings, prints and artifacts. Dublin’s Viking Adventure, Essex Street West, allows you to come ‘face to face’ with Vikings. The exhibition traces their influence on Ireland, from their arrival in long boats to the sights, sounds and even the smell of the viking settlement of ‘Dyfin’ Dublin’s Writer’s Museum, celebrates the Irish literary tradition, known to be one of the most illustrious in the world. This restored Georgian Mansion at the north end of the city features a collection of works and details of the lives of some of Dublin’s literary celebrities, including Swift, Sheridan, Shaw, Wilde, Yeats, Joyce and Beckett. |
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