The National Museum at Kildare Street is in a fine building dating from 1890; the entrance is through a domed rotunda which has marble columns and a zodiac mosaic floor. It's an archaeology and history museum, comprising 6 main collections: The Treasury, Ireland's Gold, Prehistoric Ireland, Viking Age Ireland, The Road to Independence, and Ancient Egypt. This is a relatively small museum and can certainly be enjoyed by non-archaeologists. Guided tours depart regularly and only cost £1.00. If you want to go it alone, take a copy of the free floor-plan leaflet at the entrance. Here's a suggested tour of the highlights :
If you cross the mosaic floor of the entrance hall, you come to the door leading to the main hall of the museum. Around the perimeter of this hall is the Prehistoric Ireland exhibition (start on the left): artefacts from various ages are displayed, starting with the Palaeothic Age, through the Mesolithic and Neolithic Ages, and finally the Bronze Age. Note the burial graves with skeletons, dating from about 2000 B.C. and don't miss the Bog Body, thegruesome remains of a body preserved in the bog since about 400 B.C, and discovered in 1821. The Lurgan Long Boat dates from 2500 B.C. and is certainly the largest item on display! As you go through this collection, you can see the items changing in complexity and functionality, from the simple flints of the earliest exhibits, to the swords and bronze shields of 900 B.C.
Now step down in to the centre of the hall, to the Or collection, or Ireland's Gold. This is a really beautiful exhibition, comprising gold ornaments from the Bronze Age, which have been excavated from sites all over Ireland. The Earlier Bronze Age features gold hair- and ear-rings and gold lunula, thin crescent-shaped pieces made from beaten sheet gold. From 1200 B.C. you can see that new techniques were being used, to produce necklaces and armlets of twisted gold. Later on, solid pieces were used to make the practical but still beautiful dress fasteners from 800 -700B.C.
Leaving the main hall, find the Treasury Exhibition in the next room: this is a collection of masterpieces of medieval art, from the late Bronze Age, up to the 15th century, including some famous Celtic examples. Don't miss the beautiful Tara Brooch (and several other examples of silver brooches from the 8th - 10th centuries), the Derrynaflan Silver Chalice and hoard, the Ardagh Chalice and hoard, and the Cross of Cong.
Upstairs is the Viking Age Ireland exhibition, supplemented by a collaboration with the Viking Ship Museum of Roskilde in Denmark.
If you still have energy/interest, there's the The Road to Independence, an exhibition of Irish history from 1916 to 1921. There's also the Ancient Egypt exhibition, a collection of Egyptian archaeology from 5500 B.C. to 400 A.D.
The small gift shop downstairs in the entrance hall is worth a visit, selling unique postcards, and lovely silver replicas of the Tara brooch and other jewellery.
Facilities: frequent guided Tours, cost £1.00; audio-visual presentations of part of the collection available in several languages; Gift Shop, Restaurant.
Vistors with disabilities: the ground-floor exhibitions, restaurant, gift shop and restrooms are wheelchair-accessible.
