2011 Dublin: National Museum of Ireland
Irish Lion
The National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology is the national repository for all archaeological objects found in Ireland and home to over two million artefacts.
The building, designed by Cork architects Thomas Newenham Deane and his son Thomas Manly Deane, is a Dublin architectural landmark.
It is built in the Victorian Palladian style and has been compared with the Altes Museum in Berlin, designed by Karl Schinkel in the 1820s.
Neo-classical influences can be seen in the colonnaded entrance and the domed rotunda, which rises to a height of 20 metres and is modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. Within the rotunda, classical columns – made of marble quarried in Counties Cork, Kilkenny, Galway, Limerick and Armagh – mirror the entrance.
The National Museum of Ireland was founded under the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act of 1877. Previously, the Museum’s collections had been divided between Leinster House, originally the headquarters of the Royal Dublin Society, and the Natural History Museum in Merrion Street, built as an extension to Leinster House in 1856 - 1857.
Under the Act, the government purchased the museum buildings and collections. To provide storage and display space for the Leinster House collections, the government quickly implemented plans to construct a new, custom-built museum on Kildare Street and on 29 August 1890, the new museum opened its doors to the public.
The lion has long been a symbol associated with royalty, courage and strength. Lions are often placed at entranceways as guardians.
2011 Dublin: National Museum of Ireland
Irish Lion
The National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology is the national repository for all archaeological objects found in Ireland and home to over two million artefacts.
The building, designed by Cork architects Thomas Newenham Deane and his son Thomas Manly Deane, is a Dublin architectural landmark.
It is built in the Victorian Palladian style and has been compared with the Altes Museum in Berlin, designed by Karl Schinkel in the 1820s.
Neo-classical influences can be seen in the colonnaded entrance and the domed rotunda, which rises to a height of 20 metres and is modelled on the Pantheon in Rome. Within the rotunda, classical columns – made of marble quarried in Counties Cork, Kilkenny, Galway, Limerick and Armagh – mirror the entrance.
The National Museum of Ireland was founded under the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act of 1877. Previously, the Museum’s collections had been divided between Leinster House, originally the headquarters of the Royal Dublin Society, and the Natural History Museum in Merrion Street, built as an extension to Leinster House in 1856 - 1857.
Under the Act, the government purchased the museum buildings and collections. To provide storage and display space for the Leinster House collections, the government quickly implemented plans to construct a new, custom-built museum on Kildare Street and on 29 August 1890, the new museum opened its doors to the public.
The lion has long been a symbol associated with royalty, courage and strength. Lions are often placed at entranceways as guardians.