The Top Museums to Visit in Ireland

National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology
Ireland’s National Museum consists of four different premises, each with a specific focus. On Dublin’s Kildare Street, The National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology houses a rich collection of prehistoric artefacts from home and abroad, most notably items of Celtic art and a selection of incredibly well-preserved Iron Age ‘bog bodies’ exhumed from Irish peat bogs.
National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, Kildare Street, Dublin, Ireland, +353 1 677 7444

The Museum of Decorative Arts and History | © William Murphy / Flickr

Voted Ireland’s number one museum in the 2016 TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards, and a previous winner of Best International Museum at the UK’s Museum and Heritage Awards for Excellence, Dublin’s Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, opened in 1832, offers a fascinating insight into Irish history.
It was one of the first burial grounds to open after the repeal of a law forbidding Irish Catholics from burying their dead in their own cemeteries. The very man who fought to repeal that law, political leader Daniel O’Connell, is now buried here, along with other well-known cultural and revolutionary figures such as Michael Collins and Constance Markievicz. The museum’s ‘Milestone Gallery’ contains the life stories of 200 people buried here.

A key attraction in Ireland’s oldest city, The Medieval Museum lies in the award-winning cultural area of Waterford known as the Viking Triangle. The only medieval museum in the country, it’s home to artefacts such as The Great Charter Roll of Waterford (1373) and Europe’s only complete set of medieval cloth-of-gold vestments. The museum also holds two original medieval chambers within its limits, reached via a spiral staircase dating back to the 13th century.

Situated on the Dingle Peninsula’s stunning Slea Head Drive, The Blasket Centre museum contains exhibits relating to the history of the Blasket Islands, populated until the 1950s by a self-sustaining Irish-speaking community. The centre itself has a panoramic view of Great Blasket Island, which was the home of three of the most famous Irish language writers – Peig Sayers, Tomás Ó Criomhthain and Muiris Ó Súilleabháin.
The Blasket Centre, Ballynaraha North, Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, +353 66 915 6444

Courtesy of The Blasket Centre Archive/Cartlann Ionaid an Bhlascaoid

Throughout his lifetime, early 20th-century mining mogul Sir Alfred Chester Beatty travelled the globe amassing a world-class collection of Islamic and Far Eastern rarities, from Arabic texts and muraqqa albums to Japanese picture scrolls. His most precious possessions also include biblical papyri and prints by European artists such as Albrecht Dürer. Located on the grounds of Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library is the only Irish museum to date to earn the title of European Museum of the Year (it won in 2002.)
The Chester Beatty Library, Clock Tower Building, Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland, +353 1 407 0750

The Chester Beatty Library | © William Murphy / Flickr

The world’s oldest known field systems can be found in County Mayo, along with an award-winning visitor centre, complete with enlightening exhibitions and an audio-visual show. Guided tours, 45–60 minutes, are also available of the surrounding landscape, where stone-age houses, stone walls, and tombs have been kept in incredible condition, buried beneath a peat bog. After a tour, visitors can warm up in the museum’s tea rooms.
Céide Fields, Ballycastle, County Mayo, Ireland, +353 96 43325

The Céide Fields | © Rowan McLaughlin / Flickr

The Little Museum of Dublin is worth visiting for the location alone – it sits inside a beautifully appointed Georgian townhouse on St. Stephen’s Green – but its exhibitions illuminating the rich history of the city are the real attraction. Current exhibits include one dedicated to the development of the GAA (Gaelic Athletics Association) in Dublin and another that takes a close look at the city’s most famous band, entitled U2: Made in Dublin.

Opened in 2012, the vast Titanic Belfast is one of Ireland’s newer attractions but has already been hugely successful, attracting more than 800,000 visitors during its first year and being named Europe’s Leading Visitor Attraction at the prestigious World Travel Awards in 2016.
Built on the site where the ship itself was constructed prior to its ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage, the impressive, angular exhibition space holds within it nine interactive galleries, all reflecting on the history of one of the most famous maritime disasters in the world.
Titanic Belfast, 1 Olympic Way, Queens Road, Titanic Quarter, Belfast, Northern Ireland, +44 28 9076 6386

Titanic Belfast | © Titanic Belfast / Flickr