National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks

About

The National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts and History (Irish: Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann – Na hEalaíona Maisiúla ⁊ Stair), also known as the National Museum of Ireland – Collins Barracks is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) located at the former Collins Barracks in the Arbour Hill area of Dublin, Ireland. This museum holds historical and contemporary collections relating to military history and decorative arts, with core collections relating to historical Irish events such as the Easter Rising.

The Decorative Arts & History Department of the NMI, formerly called the Art and Industrial Division of the Dublin Museum of Science and Art, was founded in 1877, alongside the Natural History Division, and the Antiquities Division. Early objects for this division were purchased in 1878 and 1879, when 121 Indian and Persian objects, including enamels, ceramics, and textiles were added to the collections which came from the Royal Dublin Society and the Museum of Irish Industry. Material was also loaned from what was then the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in London. When the new museum building on Kildare Street was opened, art and industry were featured in the displays, in a similar manner to the South Kensington Museum. The art and industry collections were deemed essential teaching material for the instruction of art students, as well as those working in industry, to learn from the best international example. By 1889, the Art and Industrial Division had accessioned 10,372 objects that were stored at the museum's main building on Kildare Street. In this early phase of the museum, the industrial collections were given prominence both for display in Kildare Street, and in collections acquisition. Large sections of the ground floor at Kildare Street were given over to displays of antiquities deemed useful for Irish industry.

In the early 20th century, the art and industry collection was primarily used for teaching and instruction on a range of arts and crafts disciplines. Material was often loaned to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and some of the collection was sent around the country to schools and other institutions in loan boxes, being known as the Circulation Collection. This collection was highly successful, but was put on hiatus during World War I ; it was never reinstated after the war. The museum mounted an exhibition called Applications of Art and Industry, which displayed locally commissioned enamel work, lace, and tapestries. Exhibition materials of silver and furniture were loaned out, and lectures given to people employed in these industries. From 1908, under the new directorship of Count George Noble Plunkett, there was an increased emphasis on collecting objects that were "distinctively Irish" across all the museum's divisions.

After Irish independence in 1922, the museum as a whole, now known as the National Museum of Ireland, had to operate on a much-reduced budget, and lost a large part of its exhibition spaces when Leinster House became the seat of the new Irish parliament. It was from this point on that the art and industry division was tasked with collecting objects relating to Irish military and political history. The museum mounted its first exhibition on the Easter Rising in 1932 in Kildare Street, with objects that would form the centre of what would become known as the Easter Week Collection. This was the museum's first contemporary and thematic collection, and this remained an active area of collecting for a large part of the 20th century. Many of the objects in the collection were donated or loaned by members of the public.

The 1930s saw the donation of a large and important collection of Asian art by Dublin-born Albert Bender of San Francisco. Bender, who was Jewish, donated the collection to the National Museum of Ireland during the tenure of curator and director Adolf Mahr, who was also the head of the Dublin Nazi chapter. The collection was sought after by a number of other cultural institutions, including the Louvre, but Bender gave the NMI first refusal on it. This was despite the changed remit of the museum under the new Irish Free State, with an aim to concentrate its collecting and interpretation of Irish material culture, and Mahr's attempts to dissuade Bender from donating to the Irish museum, stating: "We are not good enough an institution to be favoured with such magnificent gifts... why shall we go to the trouble to force such a fine Far East collection... upon a country which is not yet mature for it?" Despite this, Bender donated elements of his collection from 1932 to 1937 in honour of his mother, Augusta Bender, to whom the exhibition room in Kildare Street was dedicated. The "Augusta Bender Memorial Room of Far Eastern Art" was opened by Eamon de Valera on 25 June 1934, with de Valera delivering a speech written by Mahr. The event was attended by members of the Yeats family and the artist Estella Solomons. Bender eventually stopped sending further objects to the museum when the room, to which he had donated over 250 items, was reported to him as full by Mahr in 1937.

In December 1988, the Irish government made the decision to close Collins Barracks as a military facility, and in 1993 an agreement was reached for the NMI to take possession of the site as a new museum campus. This was part of a wider plan to rejuvenate a neglected and deprived area of Dublin city spanning 270 acres between Collins Barracks and O'Connell Street. This area was designated as part of the Historic Area Rejuvenation Project (HARP), with the museum being the central piece of a new "museum quarter". Included in this plan was the construction of the new Luas line which would create easier public transport links to not only the new museum in Collins Barracks, but to the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham.

Over the course of three years, the Office of Public Works developed and refurbished the site for the museum at the cost of £15 million. The development of this new museum site led to the drafting of the NMI's first strategic plan. The museum opened in 1997, with both exhibition and storage spaces for the collections that were relocated from Kildare Street and other storage buildings. This resulted in the display of some objects for the first time in decades. A lecture theatre, restaurant, and education rooms were also created. The site also is the location of the museum's conservation lab, and main offices for the documentation department. In the first year of opening, the museums saw 200,000 visitors. The opening of this new museum site also saw a marked expansion in the educational department of the museum across all of its sites. The museum was officially opened in its first phase in September 1997 by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle de Valera.

The adaptation and development of the museum has led to a number of phased building projects. These included a collaboration between the Office of Public Works and the Gilroy McMahon architectural firm to redevelop the western and southern ranges of the main Palatine Square into exhibition spaces for the museum, and for which they were awarded the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland silver medal for conservation in 2002. This involved converting former infantry quarters into long exhibition areas, retaining the original staircases. The museum's conservation department is housed in a red brick extension to the original buildings of the Transport Square, and was completed in 2001. In 2018, visitor numbers were reported as 198,974.

In March 2021, a pair of slippers held in the museum's collections went viral. A screen shot of curator Brenda Malone holding the slippers as she showed them to a group of students from Liverpool John Moores University was shared on Twitter by author and lecturer, Dr Gillian O'Brien. The slippers were owned by Michael Collins, and were donated to the museum by his friend, Bridget O'Connor, in 1958. The bright blue slippers with an embroidered wolf head pattern inspired a large volume of interest. The slippers have never been on public display, but there are now plans to create a range of gift items based on them.

The Decorative Arts & History Department of the NMI, formerly called the Art and Industrial Division of the Dublin Museum of Science and Art, was founded in 1877, alongside the Natural History Division, and the Antiquities Division. Early objects for this division were purchased in 1878 and 1879, when 121 Indian and Persian objects, including enamels, ceramics, and textiles were added to the collections which came from the Royal Dublin Society and the Museum of Irish Industry. Material was also loaned from what was then the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in London. When the new museum building on Kildare Street was opened, art and industry were featured in the displays, in a similar manner to the South Kensington Museum. The art and industry collections were deemed essential teaching material for the instruction of art students, as well as those working in industry, to learn from the best international example. By 1889, the Art and Industrial Division had accessioned 10,372 objects that were stored at the museum's main building on Kildare Street. In this early phase of the museum, the industrial collections were given prominence both for display in Kildare Street, and in collections acquisition. Large sections of the ground floor at Kildare Street were given over to displays of antiquities deemed useful for Irish industry.

In the early 20th century, the art and industry collection was primarily used for teaching and instruction on a range of arts and crafts disciplines. Material was often loaned to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and some of the collection was sent around the country to schools and other institutions in loan boxes, being known as the Circulation Collection. This collection was highly successful, but was put on hiatus during World War I ; it was never reinstated after the war. The museum mounted an exhibition called Applications of Art and Industry, which displayed locally commissioned enamel work, lace, and tapestries. Exhibition materials of silver and furniture were loaned out, and lectures given to people employed in these industries. From 1908, under the new directorship of Count George Noble Plunkett, there was an increased emphasis on collecting objects that were "distinctively Irish" across all the museum's divisions.

After Irish independence in 1922, the museum as a whole, now known as the National Museum of Ireland, had to operate on a much-reduced budget, and lost a large part of its exhibition spaces when Leinster House became the seat of the new Irish parliament. It was from this point on that the art and industry division was tasked with collecting objects relating to Irish military and political history. The museum mounted its first exhibition on the Easter Rising in 1932 in Kildare Street, with objects that would form the centre of what would become known as the Easter Week Collection. This was the museum's first contemporary and thematic collection, and this remained an active area of collecting for a large part of the 20th century. Many of the objects in the collection were donated or loaned by members of the public.

The 1930s saw the donation of a large and important collection of Asian art by Dublin-born Albert Bender of San Francisco. Bender, who was Jewish, donated the collection to the National Museum of Ireland during the tenure of curator and director Adolf Mahr, who was also the head of the Dublin Nazi chapter. The collection was sought after by a number of other cultural institutions, including the Louvre, but Bender gave the NMI first refusal on it. This was despite the changed remit of the museum under the new Irish Free State, with an aim to concentrate its collecting and interpretation of Irish material culture, and Mahr's attempts to dissuade Bender from donating to the Irish museum, stating: "We are not good enough an institution to be favoured with such magnificent gifts... why shall we go to the trouble to force such a fine Far East collection... upon a country which is not yet mature for it?" Despite this, Bender donated elements of his collection from 1932 to 1937 in honour of his mother, Augusta Bender, to whom the exhibition room in Kildare Street was dedicated. The "Augusta Bender Memorial Room of Far Eastern Art" was opened by Eamon de Valera on 25 June 1934, with de Valera delivering a speech written by Mahr. The event was attended by members of the Yeats family and the artist Estella Solomons. Bender eventually stopped sending further objects to the museum when the room, to which he had donated over 250 items, was reported to him as full by Mahr in 1937.

In December 1988, the Irish government made the decision to close Collins Barracks as a military facility, and in 1993 an agreement was reached for the NMI to take possession of the site as a new museum campus. This was part of a wider plan to rejuvenate a neglected and deprived area of Dublin city spanning 270 acres between Collins Barracks and O'Connell Street. This area was designated as part of the Historic Area Rejuvenation Project (HARP), with the museum being the central piece of a new "museum quarter". Included in this plan was the construction of the new Luas line which would create easier public transport links to not only the new museum in Collins Barracks, but to the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham.

Over the course of three years, the Office of Public Works developed and refurbished the site for the museum at the cost of £15 million. The development of this new museum site led to the drafting of the NMI's first strategic plan. The museum opened in 1997, with both exhibition and storage spaces for the collections that were relocated from Kildare Street and other storage buildings. This resulted in the display of some objects for the first time in decades. A lecture theatre, restaurant, and education rooms were also created. The site also is the location of the museum's conservation lab, and main offices for the documentation department. In the first year of opening, the museums saw 200,000 visitors. The opening of this new museum site also saw a marked expansion in the educational department of the museum across all of its sites. The museum was officially opened in its first phase in September 1997 by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Síle de Valera.

The adaptation and development of the museum has led to a number of phased building projects. These included a collaboration between the Office of Public Works and the Gilroy McMahon architectural firm to redevelop the western and southern ranges of the main Palatine Square into exhibition spaces for the museum, and for which they were awarded the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland silver medal for conservation in 2002. This involved converting former infantry quarters into long exhibition areas, retaining the original staircases. The museum's conservation department is housed in a red brick extension to the original buildings of the Transport Square, and was completed in 2001. In 2018, visitor numbers were reported as 198,974.

In March 2021, a pair of slippers held in the museum's collections went viral. A screen shot of curator Brenda Malone holding the slippers as she showed them to a group of students from Liverpool John Moores University was shared on Twitter by author and lecturer, Dr Gillian O'Brien. The slippers were owned by Michael Collins, and were donated to the museum by his friend, Bridget O'Connor, in 1958. The bright blue slippers with an embroidered wolf head pattern inspired a large volume of interest. The slippers have never been on public display, but there are now plans to create a range of gift items based on them.

The museum contains displays of Irish coins and currency, silverware, furniture, Asian art, folk life and costumes, ceramics, and glassware. Other permanent exhibitions include What's In Store?, Out of Storage, Irish Silver Exhibition, and Irish Country Furniture.

In 2021, it was announced that a new gallery dedicated to the 20th century would be opened at the museum. Scheduled to open in 2023 [ needs update ], it would coincide with the centenary of the foundation of the Irish Free State as part of the Decade of Centenaries 2012–2023 Programme. The government announced the museum would receive €2.2 million in capital funding for the project.

The Soldiers and Chiefs – The Irish at War at Home and Abroad since 1550 exhibition features military artefacts and memorabilia tracing Ireland's military history from 1550 to the present. It opened to the public in 2005, and spans over 1,700 square metres of exhibition space. The exhibition is organised chronologically, with the phases of military occupation and development in Ireland covered, as well as the role of Irish soldiers in armies around the world up to modern-day peace-keeping activities with the United Nations. Curated by Lar Joye, it won best exhibition in Ireland 2009–2010 in the museum awards hosted by the Heritage Council and the Northern Ireland Museums Council.