National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street
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About
The National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street (Irish: Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann – Seandálaíocht") 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. 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.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.