Natural History Museum (Ireland)
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Ireland's Natural History Museum (Irish: Músaem Stair an Dúlra), a branch of the National Museum, is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin. A bronze statue of Surgeon-General T.H. Parke stands in front of the Victoria-era building. The Museum's collection and building have changed little since Victorian times, and it is sometimes described as a "museum of a museum".
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[edit] History
The Royal Dublin Society opened a museum in 1857, originally housed in Kildare Street. After several moves before and during the Irish War of Independence, the museum is now a unit of the National Museum of Ireland.
[edit] Collection
The Irish Room, the ground floor of the museum, displays Irish animals, notably several mounted skeletons of Giant Irish deer. Numerous skulls of those and other deer line the walls, and many other specimens are not on display. Stephen Jay Gould did an extensive study of the specimens in the museum.
Stuffed and mounted mammals, birds, fish — and insects and other animals native to or found in Ireland — comprise the rest of the ground floor. Many of the specimens of currently extant animals, such as badgers, hares, and foxes, are over a century old. A model "sunfish" (Basking shark) hangs from this ceiling.
On the next floor, the Lower Gallery contains mammals from around the world, including extinct or endangered species including a thylacine, a quagga, and a pygmy hippopotamus. The four higher galleries above are railed balconies around the walls, displaying more primitive animals, from birds through reptiles and fish to invertebrates and microbes. The second ceiling suspends a Humpback whale skeleton.
The museum also holds a replica Dodo skeleton, of uncertain origin but most likely from Mauritius.
As the collection is unique in range and vintage, so the exhibits are a product of their age, with faded and worn pelts and visible marks from bullets and rough taxidermy. Larger specimens are displayed in large, wood-framed glass cases while smallers ones are kept under glass, protected from sunlight by moveable leather panels. The main room is heated by an underfloor system similar to a Roman hypocaust.
[edit] Chopped, Pickled and Stuffed
RTE, the national broadcaster in Ireland, produced and broadcast a 12 programme series for radio, entitled "Chopped, Pickled and Stuffed", exploring different aspects of the museum's collection. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/choppedpickledandstuffed/1034185.html
[edit] Stairway collapse
On the morning of 5th July, 2007, the 150 year old, granite, rear stairway of the building (not accessible by the general public) gave way. Eleven people were injured in this incident, [1] as a teacher training course was on-going in the area.
The stairway was a very ornate structure, arising from Leinster House's former status as the home of the Royal Dublin Society. Members of same would have used what is now the back door of the museum building to gain access from Leinster House to this building, hence the grandeur of the stairway.
As of June 2008, the building is still closed for a Health and Safety review following this incident.
[edit] External links
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