National Museum of Ireland

The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) is the main museum in Ireland. It has three centres in Dublin and Mayo, with a strong emphasis on Irish art, culture and natural history.

Archaeology and History section on Kildare Street includes the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch, both especially famous examples of early medieval metalwork in Ireland, as well as prehistoric ornaments from the Bronze Age in Ireland. Many of these pieces were found in the nineteenth century by peasants or agricultural labourers, when population expansion led to cultivation of land which had not been touched since the middle ages. Indeed, only for the intervention of George Petrie of the Royal Irish Academy, and likeminded individuals from the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, most of the metalwork would have been melted down for the intrinsic value of its materials, as did frequently happen despite their efforts. The Museums of both institutions formed the basis for the Archaeology and History section of the Museum at Kildare Street . This is the original site opened in 1890 as the Dublin Museum of Science and Art. This site also included Leinster House until 1922, now the home of the Oireachtas.

Country Life is the most recent part of the museum to be opened. It is located in Castlebar, in County Mayo and was opened in 2001. Much of the material in this site dates from rural Ireland in the 1930s and shows the characteristics of ordinary life at this time.

Decorative Arts and History, including the Great Seal of the Irish Free State, is kept at the Collins Barracks site, this is a former military barracks named after Michael Collins in 1922. This site opened in 1997 and is the administrative center.

Natural History section includes a skeleton of an Irish deer in Merrion Street . This section also includes animals from various parts of the world. This site has been operational since 1857 as part of the Royal Dublin Society.

• Official site - National Museum of Ireland