The National Museum of Ireland has four sites. Archaeology is at Kildare Street, so this is the one for design, social history and the military side of Irish history. Its official name is National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History, but the building and most directions just say Collins Barracks.
It is a little different from the city’s other museums. Housed in the imposing former military complex of Collins Barracks, it brings together Irish design, fashion, furniture and craftsmanship with the stories of soldiers, revolutionaries and ordinary people throughout Irish history.
Collins Barracks is free and open seven days a week, though on Sundays and Mondays the doors only open at 1pm. The Luas stops right outside.
The basics
Address: Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7, D07 XKV4. Admission is free.
Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, and Sunday and Monday 1pm to 5pm. It closes on Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day and Good Friday, and shuts at noon on Christmas Eve.
The Luas stop is Museum, on the Red Line. The phone number is +353 1 677 7444. The museum itself suggests ringing ahead if you’re making a special trip for one gallery, because some close at short notice.
Looking for the Dead Zoo?
The Natural History Museum on Merrion Street is closed for conservation and refurbishment. In the meantime the museum has set up the Dead Zoo Lab here at Collins Barracks, with around 1,300 specimens on show at a time: insects, minerals, mammals, birds, reptiles and marine life. It also has part of the Blaschka collection, delicate 19th-century glass models of sea creatures. The museum says it’s the largest collection of them anywhere. Entry is free, and only groups need to book.
A barracks that became a museum
The site dates from 1702. It started out as plain “The Barracks”, became the Royal Barracks, and was renamed for Michael Collins when it passed to the Irish Free State in 1922. The collections moved in in 1997. The museum describes the place as 18 acres of tall granite buildings that still look every inch the barracks.
What to see
There’s far more here than one visit covers, so pick a couple of things and give them time.
Changing Ireland is the one to start with if you only have an hour. The galleries cover Irish political, cultural and social history from 1900 to 2020 and rely on objects rather than text. Among the museum’s own highlights are Hannah Sheehy Skeffington’s suffrage banner, James Connolly’s hat from the Easter Rising, Rory Gallagher’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster, and the suit Mary Robinson wore at her inauguration, designed by Louise Kennedy. There’s a free audio tour.
Soldiers and Chiefs runs from 1550 into this century, across more than 1,000 objects: the Wild Geese, the Irish in the American Civil War, the First World War, 1916, the War of Independence and Civil War, UN peacekeeping. If you’re with children, head for the Barracks Life Room, which has reconstructed barrack rooms from 1879 and 1943 and costumes to try on. Gallery 4, on the Irish in British regiments, was closed at the time of writing.
Eileen Gray was an Irish-born designer and architect who made her name in Paris. The exhibition has her adjustable chrome table, a non-conformist chair, family photographs and her lacquering tools. By the museum’s own account she got little recognition at home in her lifetime, and the display fulfils one of her last wishes: to have her work brought back to Ireland. It’s small, and a good answer to anyone who thinks “decorative arts” means doilies.
The Asgard is a yacht built in 1905 by the Norwegian naval architect Colin Archer. In 1914 it helped land guns for the Irish Volunteers at Howth, and it has been on display here since 2012. It’s a lot of boat to find indoors.
Beyond those, you could try:
- The Albert Bender collection, mostly Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist art, given to the museum in the 1930s by an Irish-American businessman of that name.
- The Fonthill Vase, made around 1300. The museum describes it as the earliest documented porcelain to reach Europe from China. It’s in the Curator’s Choice display.
- The Way We Wore, which covers clothing and jewellery worn in Ireland from the 1760s to the 1960s.
- Irish Country Furniture and Reconstructed Rooms, for how people lived over four centuries.
- The Irish Silver Gallery, one of the largest collections of Irish silver in the world. It was closed for maintenance at the time of writing.
Planning your visit
A couple of hours is enough for a selective visit. Reading everything would take far longer. All galleries are fully accessible, with four lifts. Groups of eight or more have to book ahead.
There’s a gift shop and a café, Synge & Byrne. If you’re driving, there’s pay-and-display parking on site, but the Luas is easier.
Getting there
The Museum stop on the Luas Red Line sits between the museum and Croppies’ Acre, a small memorial park. Heuston and Connolly stations are both on the Red Line. Several Dublin Bus routes also stop nearby, so check the TFI Journey Planner for the current ones.
The line runs out to the Guinness Storehouse (James’s stop) in one direction. Going the other way you pass Smithfield and then the Four Courts, with Dublinia next door, so it combines easily with a day in the city.
Since entry is free, you don’t need to squeeze in everything. Pick two galleries, take your time with them, and save the rest for another visit.
