The National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann – Seandálaíocht, often known as the "NMI") is a branch of the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...

located on

Kildare Street Kildare Street () is a street in Dublin, Ireland. Location Kildare Street is close to the principal shopping area of Grafton Street and Dawson Street, to which it is joined by Molesworth Street. Trinity College lies at the north end of the ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Ireland, that specialises in Irish and other antiquities dating from the

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...

to the

Late Middle Ages The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...

. The museum was established under the Science and Art Museum Act of 1877. Before, its collections had been divided between the

Royal Dublin Society The Royal Dublin Society (RDS) ( ga, Cumann Ríoga Bhaile Átha Cliath) is an Irish philanthropic organisation and members club which was founded as the 'Dublin Society' on 25 June 1731 with the aim to see Ireland thrive culturally and economi ...

and the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

Merrion Street Merrion Street (; ) is a major Georgian street on the southside of Dublin, Ireland, which runs along one side of Merrion Square. It is divided into Merrion Street Lower (north end), Merrion Square West and Merrion Street Upper (south end). It h ...

. The museum was built by the father and son architects

Thomas Newenham Deane Sir Thomas Newenham Deane (1828 – 8 November 1899) was an Irish architect, the son of Sir Thomas Deane and Eliza Newenham, and the father of Sir Thomas Manly Deane. His father and son were also architects. Works attributed to Thomas Newen ...

and

Thomas Manly Deane Sir Thomas Manly Deane (8 June 1851 – 3 February 1933) was an Irish architect, the son of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane and grandson of Sir Thomas Deane, who were also architects. Born at Ferney House, Blackrock, Cork, on 8 June 1851, he was edu ...

. The NMI's collection contains artifacts from

prehistoric Ireland The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over the last decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC (although ...

including

bog bodies A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are both geographically and chronologically widespread, having been dated to between and the Second World War. Fischer 19 ...

Iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

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 post-Roman era Irish medieval art (known as

Insular art Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, was produced in the post-Roman era of Great Britain and Ireland. The term derives from ''insula'', the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style dif ...

). In addition, it houses a substantial collection of medieval metalwork, Viking artefacts including swords and coins, and classical objects from Ancient Egypt,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and the

Roman world The culture of ancient Rome existed throughout the almost 1200-year history of the civilization of Ancient Rome. The term refers to the culture of the Roman Republic, later the Roman Empire, which at its peak covered an area from present-day Lo ...

History

The basis for the museum occurred when the collections of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...

(RIA) and

(rds) were amalgamated under a new institution established in 1877 under the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act. The need arose when the RIA recogonised it needed government funding to continue its acquisition program, while being a state body allowed easier collaboration with the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

.History of the Organisation
. National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 7 January 2022 The project was overseen by the

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

Alexander Carte Alexander Carte MD, FRCSI, MRIA (11 August 1805 – 25 September 1881) was an Irish zoologist and palaeontologist and was first director Natural History Museum, Dublin. Early life Alexander Carte was born 11 August 1805 to Edward and Marga ...

. Other early sources include works held by

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

and the

Geological Survey of Ireland Geological Survey Ireland or Geological Survey of IrelandS.I. No. 300/2002 - Communications, Energy and Geological Survey of Ireland (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2002 ( ga, Suirbhéireacht Gheolaíochta ...

.Rudolph (2019), "National Museum of Ireland, Dublin" These included major pieces such as the

Cross of Cong The ''Cross of Cong'' ( ga, Cros Chonga, "the yellow baculum") is an early 12th-century Irish Christian ornamented cusped processional cross, which was, as an inscription says, made for Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (d. 1156), King of Connacht an ...

acquired by the RIA from an Augustinian priory in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, the

Domnach Airgid The Domnach Airgid (; also Domhnach Airgid, English: Silver Church or Shrine of Saint Patrick's Gospels)Henry Sirr and Petrie (who left some 1,500 artifacts, including 900 from pre-history, six crosiers, and a number of bells and bell-shrines) in the mid-19th century.Overbe (2012), p. 22 Many of these pieces were found in the 19th century by agricultural labourers, when population expansion and new machinery led to cultivation of land that had not been touched since the Middle Ages. Only the intervention of George Petrie of the RIA and other members from the

Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland The Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland is a learned society based in Ireland, whose aims are "to preserve, examine and illustrate all ancient monuments and memorials of the arts, manners and customs of the past, as connected with the antiquit ...

prevented the metalwork from being melted for its intrinsic value. This rediscovery continues to the present day, with recent major discoveries including the 8th century Tully Lough Cross found in 1986, and the Clonycavan bog bodies found in 2003.Kingship and Sacrifice
. National Museum of Ireland, 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2021 The museum was renamed the National Museum of Science and Art in 1908, and was again renamed as the National Museum of Ireland in 1921 following

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Building and interior

The original museum was titled the Dublin Museum of Science and Art, and was located between Royal Dublin Society in

Leinster House Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...

and the

. The museum's storage and display requirements became too large for these locations and a new museum was built on Kildare Street. Opened on 29 August 1890, it was designed by

and his son, Thomas Manly Deane, in the Victorian

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style. The

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s around the entrance and the

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

d rotunda are made from Irish

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

and bear influence from both 18th century neoclassical designKelly (2007), p. 4Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 14 and the

Pantheon Pantheon may refer to: * Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building Arts and entertainment Comics *Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization * ''Pantheon'' (Lone S ...

in Rome. The stone on the exterior is mostly

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

, with the columns formed from

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

excavated at

Mountcharles Mountcharles () is a village and townland (of 650 acres) in the south of County Donegal, Ireland. It lies 6 km from Donegal Town on the Killybegs road ( N56). It is situated in the civil parish of Inver and the historic barony of Banagh. Th ...

, County Donegal.Kelly (2007), p. 5 The

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

floors in the interior contain scenes from scenes from classical mythology. Although laid out in the 19th century by the Manchaster-based artist Ludwig Oppenheimer, they were covered over for decades until cleaned and restored in 2011. The wooden doors were carved by either William Milligan of Dublin or Carlo Cambi of

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, Italy, while the fireplaces contain

majolica In different periods of time and in different countries, the term ''majolica'' has been used for two distinct types of pottery. Firstly, from the mid-15th century onwards, was ''maiolica'', a type of pottery reaching Italy from Spain, Majorca a ...

tiles by the UK-based

Burmantofts Pottery Burmantofts Pottery was the common trading name of a manufacturer of ceramic pipes and construction materials, named after the Burmantofts district of Leeds, England. Company history The business began in 1859 when fire clay was discovered in a ...

.Kelly (2011), p. 109 The balcony of the central court is held by rows of thin cast-iron columns containing ornate capitals decorated with groups of

cherubs A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...

. File:Circular (31647815505).jpg, Columns and domed rotunda at the entrance File:20130810 dublin205.JPG, Stairway between the museum's two floors File:Interior of the National Museum of Ireland-Archaeology, Dublin, Ireland.jpg, View from the centre court overlooking the goldwork exhibition hall File:National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, salone del tesoro.jpg, Treasury room

Collection

The NMI has a number of large permanent exhibits, mainly of Irish historical objects and also a few smaller exhibits on the ancient Mediterranean, including galleries on Ancient Egypt, as well as "Ceramics and Glass from Ancient Cyprus".

Prehistoric

Stone age to early metallurgy

The museum's

exhibit contains artefacts from the earliest period of human habitation in Ireland (just after the Last Glacial Period) up to the Celtic Iron Age. There are numerous stone implements created by the first

hunter-gatherer A traditional hunter-gatherer or forager is a human living an ancestrally derived lifestyle in which most or all food is obtained by foraging, that is, by gathering food from local sources, especially edible wild plants but also insects, fungi, ...

colonists beginning around 7000 BC, then moving on to the tools, pottery and burial objects of the Neolithic farmers. Some notable artefacts include four rare

Jadeite Jadeite is a pyroxene mineral with composition sodium, Naaluminium, Alsilicon, Si2oxygen, O6. It is hard (Mohs hardness of about 6.5 to 7.0), very tough, and dense, with a specific gravity of about 3.4. It is found in a wide range of colors, bu ...

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many for ...

heads imported from the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

Neolithic Italy Neolithic Italy refer to the period that spanned from circa 6000 BCE, when neolithic influences from the east reached the Italian peninsula and the surrounding island bringing the so-called Neolithic revolution, to circa 3500-3000 BCE, when metallu ...

, and the unique ceremonial

macehead A mace is a blunt weapon, a type of club (weapon), club or virge that uses a heavy head on the end of a handle to deliver powerful strike (attack), strikes. A mace typically consists of a strong, heavy, wooden or metal shaft, often reinforced wi ...

discovered at the tomb of

Knowth Knowth (; ga, Cnóbha) is a Neolithic passage grave and an ancient monument of the World Heritage Site of Brú na Bóinne located 8.4 km west of Drogheda in Ireland's valley of the River Boyne. It is the largest passage grave of the Brú ...

. The exhibit then covers the introduction of metallurgy into Ireland around 2500 BC, with early

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

implements. From the later Bronze Age period there is an impressive array of bronze axes, daggers, swords, shields, cauldrons and cast bronze horns (the earliest known Irish musical instruments).Kelly (2007), pp. 10–13 There are a few very early Iron weapons. Wooden objects include a large dugout logboat, wooden wheels and cauldrons and ancient

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

fishing equipment. File:River Bann Axehead NMI.jpg, River Bann Axehead,

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...

period File:Testa in pietra con più facce, da corleck hill, co. di cavan, I-II secolo dc. 03.jpg, The

Corleck Head The Corleck Head (Irish: ''Sliabh na Trí nDée'', or ''Sliabh na nDée Dána'') is a 1st or 2nd century AD carved stone found c. 1855 on Corleck Hill in the townland of Drumeague, County Cavan, Ireland. It is carved from a single block of local ...

, a 1st or 2nd century AD three-faced stone head found in Drumeague,

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; gle, Contae an Chabháin) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Border Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is base ...

, Ireland c. 1855. File:Offerta votiva fatta da un pezzo di metallo con rilievo di ragazzi a cavallo, da newgrange, contea di meath, II-IV secolo.jpg, Votive offering in metal with relief of boys on horseback,

Newgrange Newgrange ( ga, Sí an Bhrú) is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, located on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, west of Drogheda. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 3200 BC, ...

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, 2nd-4th century AD

Bronze age and goldwork

The NMI's collection of Bronze Age goldwork ranges from c. 2200 to 1800 B.C and is considered one of the "largest and most important" in Western Europe.Kelly (2007), p. 15 The gold was recovered from

river gravel River gravel is a name given to gravel composed of small pieces of rounded stone of various colors, usually no larger than a large coin. It is named for the effect of many years of rounding of the edges of the stones due to a flow of water over ...

, and hammered into thin sheets used to create objects such as crescent shaped collars (

Gold lunula The Gold lunula (plural: lunulae) is a distinctive type of late Neolithic, Chalcolithic or (most often) early Bronze Age necklace or collar shaped like a crescent moon; most are from Prehistoric Ireland. They are normally flat and thin, with ...

), bracelets and dress-fastners. Most of the goldwork is probably jewellery, but many of the objects of are of unknown (possibly ritual) function. By the middle Bronze Age new goldwork techniques were developed; from around 1200 BC a great variety of

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few had ...

s were produced from twisting bars of gold. Items from the late Bronze Age, starting in 900 BC, include solid gold bracelets and dress-fasteners as well as large sheet gold collars, ear-spools and a necklace of hollow golden balls. File:Decorated stone from Loughcrew, Co Meath (2500-1700 BC) in the National Museum Dublin.jpg, Decorated stone from Loughcrew, Co Meath, 2500-1700 BC File:Lunula d'oro e due dischi d'oro, da coggalbeg, co. roscommon, 2200-1800 ac ca.jpg , upright=1.4,

Coggalbeg hoard The Coggalbeg hoard is an Early Bronze Age hoard of three pieces of Irish gold jewellery dating to 2300–2000 BC. It is now in the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology in Dublin, where it is normally on display. It was found in a bog ...

, 2200-1800 BC File:Gleninsheen gold gorget.jpg, The

Gleninsheen gorget The Gleninsheen gorget (catalogued as NMI W21Cahill (2005), p. 26) is a late Bronze Age collar, found in 1930 in the Gleninsheen region of the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. Given that the gorget (a type of large collar or necklace) is made fr ...

, Co Clare, c. 800-700 BC File:Gold collar ( 800-700 BC) from Co Clare (detail).jpg, Gold collar, Co Clare, 800-700 BC File:Gold Dress Fastener found in wooden box in Killymoom Demesne in Co Tyrone (800-700 BC) in National Museum Dublin.jpg, Gold dress fastener from Killymoom Demesne in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

(800-700 BC)

Bog bodies (Iron age)

The museum contains a number of well-preserved Irish

dating to the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

, some of which are believed to have been ritualistically sacrificed.Bog Bodies of the Iron Age: Gallagh Man
.

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. Retrieved 14 May 2021 The archaeologist Eamonn Kelly developed the theory that the bodies were tribal kings sacrificed by the community after failed in their kingship, drowned in pools of water at the boundary points of the tribal territory. Some seem to exhibit evidence of the so-called

threefold death In algebraic geometry, a 3-fold or threefold is a 3-dimensional algebraic variety. The Mori program In algebraic geometry, the minimal model program is part of the birational classification of algebraic varieties. Its goal is to construct a bira ...

practice of strangulation, wounding and drowning. The bog bodies in the collection are

Cashel Man Cashel Man is a bog body from a bog near Cashel in County Laois, Ireland. He was found on 10 August 2011 by Bord na Móna employee Jason Phelan from Abbeyleix. The body was a young adult male, around 20–25,Hart, Edward, dir. "Ghosts of Murde ...

(c. 2000 BC), believed to be the oldest fleshed bog body found in Europe, Gallagh Man (470-120 BC),

Clonycavan Man Clonycavan Man is the name given to a well-preserved Iron Age bog body found in Clonycavan, Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland in March 2003. The body shows signs of having been murdered. Theories around the meanings and manner of his death vary. ...

(392 to 201 BC),

Old Croghan Man Old Croghan Man (''Seanfhear Chruacháin'' in Irish) is a well-preserved Irish Iron Age bog body found in June 2003. The remains are named after Croghan Hill, north of Daingean, County Offaly, near where the body was found. The find is on disp ...

(362 to 175 BC), and Baronstown West Man (242 to 388 BC). The bodies in the NMI's collection are males aged 25 to 40 years old who died in violent, and perhaps ritual circumstances. The

withy A withy or withe (also willow and osier) is a strong flexible willow stem, typically used in thatching, basketmaking, gardening and for constructing woven wattle hurdles.

hoop found around Gallagh Man's neck was probably used as a

garrotte A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and similar variants''Oxford English Dictionary'', 11th Ed: garrotte is normal British English spelling, with single r alternate. Article title is US English spellin ...

strangle Strangling is compression of the neck that may lead to unconsciousness or death by causing an increasingly hypoxic state in the brain. Fatal strangling typically occurs in cases of violence, accidents, and is one of two main ways that hanging ...

him; Although he may have been a criminal who was executed,Haughton (2019), p. 108 the willow rope strongly suggests ritual sacrifice as they often appear for this purpose in early Irish mythological stories. The bodies are shown alongside examples of the material culture of the Celtic

period, including metal weapons, horse trappings and wooden and leather pieces, including

Ralaghan Man The Ralaghan idol, also known as the "Ralaghan figure", is a late Bronze Age anthropomorphic, carved wooden figure found in a bog in the townland of Ralaghan, County Cavan, Ireland. It is held by the National Museum of Ireland. A sample of wood f ...

, a carved wooden figure believed to be an ancient boundary marker. File:Galagh Man body.jpg, Gallagh Man, 470-120 BC, found in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

, 1821 File:Bog-body Clonycavan-Man.jpg,

, 392 to 201 BC, found in

, 2003 File:Old Croghan Man.jpg,

, 362 to 175 BC, found in

County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

, 2003 File:Baronstown West Man4.jpg, Baronstown West Man, 242 to 388 BC, found in

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, 1953

Early Medieval

The museum's treasury room exhibits early medieval Christian and secular Irish metalwork dating from the late Iron Age to the late 12th century, and contains important pieces from both the La Tène and Insular periods. The earlier works shows growing influences from the Anglo-Saxon art from England as well as the Germanic areas of Europe, while many of the pieces after the late 8th century show the influence of

Viking art Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centuries ...

.Kelly (2011), p. 110

Chalices, crosses, reliquaries, crucifixion plaques

The displays in the Treasury room are arranged chronologically, and begin with pieces such as the Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque, one of the earliest extant representations of

the crucifixion The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and considere ...

in Irish art, and outside of

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, the ...

s a rare example of both representation and a narrative scene in early Irish Insular art.O'Toole (2013) Bell shrines are among the most numerous early medieval artifacts to survive. The best known examples in the museum's collection are St. Columba's bell and the bell and shrine of St. Patrick. The so-called "Golden Age" of Irish art begins with ecclesiastical metalwork produced from the 8th-century, mainly reliquaries and liturgical vessels, including the 8th century

Moylough Belt-Shrine The Moylough Belt-Shrine is a highly decorated 8th-century Irish reliquary shaped in the form of a belt. It consists of four hinged bronze segments, each forming cavities that hold strips of plain leather assumed to have once been a girdle belon ...

and the 8th or 9th century Ardagh and Derrynaflan chalices. The impact of the

Viking invasion Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...

can be seen in Irish metalwork after the early 10th century, both in an expansion of the available materials such as silver and

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

, and the absorption of Scandinavian techniques and styles. This period coincides with an era of church reform Church and the beginning of secular patronage for artwork.Kelly (2011), p. 111 File:Placca della crocifissione, in bronzo, da st. john's rinnagan, contea di roscommon, viii secolo.jpg, The Rinnegan Crucifixion Plaque, late 7th or early 8th century File:Moylough Belt-Shrine Front view 2.jpg, The

, 8th century. Discovered in a bog in Sligo in 1945 File:Calice argenteo, da derrynaflan, contea di tipperary, ix secolo, 03.jpg, Chalice from the

Ardagh Hoard The Ardagh Hoard, best known for the Ardagh Chalice, is a hoard of metalwork from the 8th and 9th centuries. Found in 1868 by two young local boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, it is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. ...

, 8th- or 9th-century File:Processional Cross, National Museum of Ireland (B).jpg, The

Tully Lough Cross The Tully Lough Cross is an 8th- or 9th-century Irish altar or processional cross, discovered by divers in 1986 at the bottom of Tully Lough, County Roscommon. Although its origin is unknown, it may be associated with a church in Kilmore, Coun ...

, 8th or 9th century. Bronze, gilt and tin mounted on wood File:Derrynaflan chalice.jpg,

Derrynaflan Chalice The Derrynaflan Chalice is an 8th- or 9th-century chalice that was found as part of the Derrynaflan Hoard of five liturgical vessels. The discovery was made on 17 February 1980 near Killenaule, County Tipperary in Ireland. According to art h ...

, 8th- or 9th-century. Part of the Derrynaflan Hoard found in 1980 near

Killenaule Killenaule () is a small town and civil parish in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is part of the ecclesiastical parish of Killenaule and Moyglass, in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, and the barony of Slievardagh. It is east of ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

. File:Reliquiario del corp naomh (sacro corpo), argento e bronzo con cristallo di rocca, da Templecross, co. Westmeath, x poi xv secolo, 01.jpg, The Corp Naomh (sacred body) bell-shrine, 10th and 15th centuries File:Croce di cong, da cong, contea di mayo, 1100-1125 ca. 06.jpg, The

, early 12th-century File:Campana di san patrizio e il suo contenitore, da armagh, co. armagh, VI-VIII secolo, poi 1100 ca. 02.jpg, Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell, c. 1100 File:Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm NMI.jpg,

Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm The Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm (known in Irish as Lámh Lachtaín) is an early 10th century Irish arm-shrine type reliquary made of wood and metal shaped as an outstretched forearm and clenched fist.Moss (2014), p. 291 St. Lachtin's dates t ...

, c. 1118–1121. A

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...

made of wood and metal shaped as an outstretched forearm and clenched fist.Moss (2014), p. 291 File:Reliquiario del dente di san patrizio, del xii e xiv secolo, in oro, argento, lega di rame, cristallo di rocca su anima lignea, da athenry, co. galway 02.jpg, Shrine of St Patrick's Tooth, 12th and 14th centuries As many of these objects were lost in antiquity and only re-discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries, the museum plays a key role in dating, restoring and preserving newly found objects. Major recent finds include the Tully Lough Cross, found in

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

in 1986. The Faddan More Psalter (c. 800 AD), discovered in a bog in July 2006 in the townland of Faddan More in north County Tipperary, is held in an adjacent gallery to the Treasury.

Brooches

The museum holds a substantial number of ornate penannular

Celtic brooch The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch clothes fasteners, often rather large; penannular means formed as an incomplete ring. They are especial ...

es. Produced as clothes fasteners for the elites of Ireland and Scotland, they were usually worn singly at the shoulder by men and on the breast by women. Brooches are the most significant objects in high-quality secular metalwork from Early Medieval Insular art, and were later worn by the emerging middle-classes, more often by men than women. The most elaborate examples were clearly significant expressions of status at the top of society, and also worn by clergy, probably to fasten

cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colours, litu ...

s and other

vestment Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially by Eastern Churches, Catholics (of all rites), Anglicans, and Lutherans. Many other groups also make use of liturgical garments; this ...

s rather than as everyday wear.Laing (1975), p. 304 The

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

began to raid Ireland from 795, with catastrophic effect for the

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in particular. However, although the Vikings established several

longphort A longphort (Ir. plur. ''longphuirt'') is a term used in Ireland for a Viking ship enclosureConnolly S.J (1998). The Oxford Companion to Irish History. Oxford University Press. p. 580 or shore fortress. Although these ''longphorts'' were used as b ...

s, initially fortified encampments for overwintering, and later towns like

Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 N ...

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

and

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, the native Irish were more successful than the English and Scots in preventing large-scale Viking takeovers of areas for settlement by farmers. The period is characterised by a greatly increased availability of silver, presumably the result of Viking raiding and trading, and most brooches are made from silver throughout, as gilding and decoration in other materials nearly disappears. The brooches are often large, but plainer than the most elaborate earlier ones. This continues a trend that can be detected in later brooches from the preceding period, before much Viking influence can have made itself felt. The early 8th century

Tara Brooch The Tara Brooch is an Irish Celtic brooch, dated to the late-7th or early-8th century, of the pseudo-penannular type (i.e., with a fully closed head or hoop). It is made from bronze, silver and gold, with a head formed from a circular ornate r ...

is the widely considered the most complex and ornate of the surviving medieval examples and has been described as the "most outstanding item of secular metalwork of the early medieval period."Kelly (2007), p. 24 It has been exhibited internationally and was one of the artifacts that fuelled the Celtic Revival in the mid-19th century. The 9th century

Roscrea Brooch The Roscrea brooch is a 9th-century Celtic brooch of the pseudo-penannular type, found at or near Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland, before 1829.Briggs (2017), p. 74 It is made from cast silver, and decorated with zoomorphic patterns of open-ja ...

is one of a number of transitional brooches. Later Irish brooches Scandinavian stylistic and technical influence, notably an example found on

Rathlin Island Rathlin Island ( ga, Reachlainn, ; Local Irish dialect: ''Reachraidh'', ; Scots: ''Racherie'') is an island and civil parish off the coast of County Antrim (of which it is part) in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's northernmost point. ...

. File:Spilla celtica penanulare in bronzo, da arthustown, co. di kildare, vii-vii secolo.jpg, 7th century penannular brooch, bronze, Arthurstown,

File:Spilla celtica penanulare, da ballinderry, co. di offaly, 610 dc ca.jpg,

Ballinderry Brooch The Ballinderry Brooch is an Irish penannular brooch dated to the late 6th or early 7th centuries. It was found in the 1930s, along with a number of similar objects, underneath a timber floor of the late Bronze Age Ballinderry Crannóg No.2, on ...

, c. 600, one of the most complexly designed and important of the surviving early brooches File:Spilla celtica d'argento, da rathlin island, contea di antrim, ix secolo.jpg, 9th century silver brooch,

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

File:Kilmainham brooche NMI.jpg, The

Kilmainham Brooch The Kilmainham Brooch is a late 8th- or early 9th-century Celtic brooch of the "penannular" type (i.e. its ring does not fully close or is incomplete). With a diameter of 9.67 cm, it is a relatively large example, and is made from silver, gol ...

, late 8th- or early 9th-century. Its design was influenced by both

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...

and Viking metalwork.Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 185 File:Spilla celtica penanulare, da ervey, contea di meath, ix secolo.jpg, Penanular Celtic brooch,

, 9th century File:Spilla celtica anulare, in arghento, da roscrea, co. di tipperary, ix secolo dc.jpg, The

, 9th century

House-shaped shrines

House (or tomb) shaped shrines originate from the European continent, Ireland and Scotland and mostly date from the 8th or 9th centuries, and like many Insular shrines, they were heavily reworked and embellished in the centuries following their initial construction, often with metal adornments or figures influenced by Romanesque sculpture. Typical examples consist of a wooden core covered with silver and copper

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

plates. They were built to hold relics of saints or martyrs from the early Church era;Ó Floinn (1990), p. 49 a number held corporeal remains when found in the modern period, presumably they were parts of the saint's body. Others, including the now badly damaged

Breac Maodhóg The Breac Maodhóg (English: Speckled Shrine of Saint Maedog) O'Toole, Fintan.A history of Ireland in 100 objects: Breac Maodhóg Shrine, late 11th century. '' The Irish Times '', 3 December 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2021 is a relatively large Iris ...

, held manuscripts associated with the commemorated saint. The Breac Maodhóg was probably used as a battle standard when it would have been carried onto the battlefield by a cleric so as to offer protection to the troops and perhaps bring victory. A medieval text on the patron saints of the

kings of Leinster Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

records that the kings of Breifne sought that "the famous wonder-working Breac ascarried thrice around them" during battle. File:Lough Erne Shrine 11th Century.jpg, upright=1.0, The Lough Erne Shrine, 11th century. The smaller but similar shrine was found inside the larger container. File:Shrine found in the River Shannon.jpg, Drawing of a shrine found in the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Shan ...

, c. 9th century File:Earliest Irish harp on the Breac Máedóc reliquary.png, Gable of the badly damaged but important

, showing the figure of a harpist. Late 11th centuryO'Toole (2013), p. 86 File:Saint Manchan's Shrine (S1).jpg,

Saint Manchan's Shrine Saint Manchan's Shrine is a large (60-cm wide) 12th-century Irish house-shaped shrine dedicated to Manchán of Lemanaghan (died 664), now in Boher Roman Catholic Church, outside Ballycumber, County Offaly. Built to hold human remains, still intac ...

, 12th century

Cumdachs

Cumdach A (, in Irish "cover"Joynt (1917), p. 186) or book shrine is an elaborate ornamented metal reliquary box or case used to hold Early Medieval Irish manuscripts or relics. They are typically later than the book they contain, often by several c ...

s (or book shrines) are elaborate ornamented metal reliquary box or case used to hold Early Medieval Irish manuscripts or

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

s. They are typically later than the book they contain, often by several centuries. In most surviving examples the book comes from the peak age of Irish monasticism before 800, and the extant cumdachs date from after 1000, although it is clear the form dates from considerably earlier. They are mostly of Irish origin, and consist of a protective enclosures intended to permanently seal off a manuscript or relic.Moss (2014), p. 294 The usual form is a design based on a cross on the main face, with use of large gems of

rock crystal Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

or other

semi-precious A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...

stones, leaving the spaces between the arms of the cross for more varied decoration. Several were carried on a metal chain or leather cord, often worn off the belt, or suspended around the neck, placing them next to the heart and thus offering spiritual and perhaps medical benefits. They were also used to bring healing to the sick or dying, or more formally, as witness contracts. Many had hereditary lay keepers from among the chiefly families who had formed links with monasteries. Although most of the extant book-shaped protective shrines are mentioned in

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...

, they were not properly described until the early 19th century, when antiquarians and collectors such as Petrie began to seek them out from heredity collections. Most are badly damaged, including due to general wear and tear over the centuries, fires at their holding location, or more usually, having elements such as their gemstones removed for sale by their owners. A majority are now in the NMI. File:Contenitore del messale con iscrizione al 're' d'irlanda donnchad, 1030 ca., dal monastero di lorrha, co. di tipperary, 02.jpg, The shrine of the Stowe Missal, showing

openwork Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, l ...

patterns File:Cassetta di libro sacro di san cairneach, lati dell'xi secolo e fronte del 1534, in argento dorato e filigranato con cristallo di rocca su anima di legno, da clonmany co. donegal.jpg, Shrine of Miosach, 11th century. May have once contained a manuscript with

psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

or extracts from a Gospel File:Shrine of the Cathach.jpg, The Shrine of the

Cathach of St. Columba The Cathach of St. Columba, known as the Cathach (meaning "the Battler"),O'Neill (2014), p. 12 is a late 6th century Insular psalter. It is the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin psalter in the world. Its cumdac ...

, 11th century File:Soiscél Molaisse (St. Matthew).jpg, Detail from the 11th century

Soiscél Molaisse The Soiscél Molaisse ( ;Stokes (1871), p. 14 'Gospel of St. Molaisse')Stevick (2008), p. 37 is an Irish (a type of ornamented metal reliquary box or carrying case for a Religious text, holy book) that originated from an 8th-century wooden co ...

showing

St. Matthew Matthew the Apostle,, shortened to ''Matti'' (whence ar, مَتَّى, Mattā), meaning "Gift of YHWH"; arc, , Mattai; grc-koi, Μαθθαῖος, ''Maththaîos'' or , ''Matthaîos''; cop, ⲙⲁⲧⲑⲉⲟⲥ, Mattheos; la, Matthaeus a ...

File:Reliquiario di dohnach airigd ('chiesa d'argento') tradiz. donato da s. patrizio a s. macartan, viii secolo, poi 1350 ca., da clones, co. monaghan 01.jpg, Panel from the

Domnach Airgid The Domnach Airgid (; also Domhnach Airgid, English: Silver Church or Shrine of Saint Patrick's Gospels)Insular crozier An Insular crozier is a type of processional bishop's staff (crozier) produced in Ireland and Scotland between and 1200. Such items can be distinguished from mainland European types by their curved and open crooks, and drop (that is, the hollo ...

s. There are types of processional

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

's staff (

crozier A crosier or crozier (also known as a paterissa, pastoral staff, or bishop's staff) is a stylized staff that is a symbol of the governing office of a bishop or abbot and is carried by high-ranking prelates of Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholi ...

) produced in Ireland and Scotland between and 1200. They can be distinguished from mainland European types by their curved crooks and drop (that is, the hollow box-like extension at the end of the crook).Murray (2007a), p. 81 Symbols of office for bishops or abbots, their form is based on the idea of the clerics as

shepherds A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

for their flocks. Although their production ends c. 1200, they continued in use and were often refurbished and added to until the late medieval period.Moss (2014), p. 83 After the dissolution of the monasteries in the 12th and 13th centuries, the croziers were in danger of plunder from both Viking and Norman invaders. As large objects, they were difficult to hide, a reason why so many surviving examples show evidence of having been broken in two; reducing their length made them easier to hide in small spaces. A majority of the surviving extant croziers or fragments were held over the centuries by hereditary keepers (usually generations of a local family) until their re-discovered by

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

s in the early 19th century.Mitchell (1996), p. 6 The croziers are often ornamented with interlace designs, geometric patterns and

zoomorphic The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...

(portraying humans as non-human animals) figures. The animal designs in the earliest example, including the 9th century

Prosperous Crozier The Prosperous Crozier is a late 9th-century or early 10-century Irish Insular type crozier that would have been used as a ceremonial staff for bishops and high-status abbots.Bourke; Hook (2017), p. 136 Its origins and medieval provenance are ...

, are depicted in a naturalistic manner, while many of the later examples, such as the c. 1100

Lismore Crozier The Lismore Crozier is an Irish Insular type crozier dated to between 1100 and 1113 AD. It consists of a wooden tubular staff lined with copper-alloy plates; embellished with silver, gold, niello and glass; and capped by a crook with a decora ...

, bear influence from both the Ringerike and l Urnes styles of Viking art.Bourke (1985), p. 151Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 220 Some of the Ringerike style animals bear close resemblance to figures on the margins of ninth-century Celtic brooches.Bourke (1985), p. 153 In craftmanship and ornamentation, the late 11th century Clonmacnoise Crozier is considered the finest of the fully intact example, followed in quality by the 11th century

River Laune The River Laune (; Irish: ''An Leamhain'') is a river in County Kerry, Ireland, which flows from Lough Leane (sometimes written as Lough Lein), one of the Lakes of Killarney, through Beaufort, past Ballymalis Castle, through the town of Killo ...

and Lismore Crozier. File:Prosperous Crozier 1.jpg,

, late 10th or early 11th century File:Crozier of Dysert O'Dea.jpg, Crozier of Dysert O'Dea (or St. Tola's Crozier), 11th century File:Crozier Head, NMI.jpg, Crozier head (fragment) File:Bastone pastorale di lismore, 1100 ca. 05.jpg,

, c 1100

Late Medieval

Over the course of the 12th century, the Viking port cities of Dublin,

and

developed extensive trade links with Britain and the continent. This led to greater exposure to international styles and inevitably began the end of the Insular period of Irish art.Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 257 The earlier style largely came to an end after the mid-12th century Church reform movement, the

Norman invasion The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, Duchy of Brittany, Breton, County of Flanders, Flemish, and Kingdom of France, French troops, ...

of 1169–1170 and the subsequent wide adoption of Romanesque art. According to Kelly, by the late Middle Ages, "much of the material on display n the museumillustrates lifestyles, trades and activities that were common to much of medieval Europe".Kelly (2007), p. 37 This, through the Gothic and Renaissance periods Irish art was essentially a regional variation of wider European styles. The English colonisation of Ireland resulted the island having two separate identities through the last Middle Ages, each with their own language, laws and cultures, a fact that can be discerned from contemporary objects in the museum's collection. The museum defines the late period as extend from 1150 to 1550, but allows for a lot of cross-over with the earlier golden age of Irish art (including some of the later croziers, bell-shrines and cumdachs).Medieval Ireland 1150-1550
. National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 30 January 2022 According to Kelly, the museum displays its collection of later work under three groupings: "bellatores (those who fight), oratores (those who pray) and laboratores (those who work)".Kelly (2007), p. 38 File:Figurina di crocifisso in lega di rame, da baltinglass, co. di wicklow, xii secolo.jpg, Copper-alloy crucifix figurine,

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

, 12th century File:Figura di crocifisso in lega di rame dorata, 1360 ca., irlanda.jpg, Gilded copper-alloy crucifix, c. 1360 File:Figura di crocifisso in lega di rame dorata, 1470 ca., irlanda.jpg, Crucifix in gilded copper-alloy, c. 1470 File:Pendente a croce in argento dorato, 1500 ca. 02.jpg, Gilded silver cross pendant, c. 1500 File:Pendente a croce in argento con vetro e granati, 1500 ca., dai pressi di callan, co. di kilkenny.jpg, Silver cross pendant with glass and garnets, c. 1500. Found near

Callan, County Kilkenny Callan () is a town and civil parish in County Kilkenny in Ireland. Situated 16 km (10 mi) south of Kilkenny on the N76 road to Clonmel, it is near the border with County Tipperary. It is the second largest town in the county, and had a ...

File:Pendente con crocifisso a tau, in argento dorato, 1500 ca., dai dintorni di waterford, irlanda.jpg, Pendant with crucifix, gilded silver, c. 1500,

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

Governance

The museum's stated function is to hold the nation's "archaeological, ethnographical, classical and Egyptian collections. The Division is also responsible for the administration of various statutory functions such as the acquisition of archaeological objects claimed as the property of the State and the regulation of licences to export and alter archaeological objects".National Museum of Ireland annual financial reports and other corporate information, 2019
. National Museum of Ireland, 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2022 Its day-to-day work is preoccupied with recording and cataloging newly found artefacts, which in 2019 mostly involved bog finds, lithics and

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

References

Notes

Sources

*"Antiquities": Wallace, Patrick, O Floinn, Raghnall (eds). ''Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities''. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2002. * Arnold, Matthew.
The Study of Celtic Literature
'. London: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1891 * Bourke, Marie. ''The Story of Irish Museums 1790-2000: Culture, Identity and Education''. Cambridge University Press, 2011. * Casey, Christine. ''Dublin: The Buildings of Ireland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)''. London: Yale University Press, 2005. * Crawford, Henry. "A Descriptive List of Irish Shrines and Reliquaries. Part I". ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', 6th series, volume 13, no. 1, June 1923. * Crooke, Elizabeth. ''Politics, Archaeology and the Creation of a National Museum of Ireland: An Expression of National Life''. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2001. * Cone, Polly. In: ''Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D: From the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin''. NY:

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, 1977. * Henry, Françoise. ''Irish Art during the Viking Invasions (800–1020 A.D.)''. London: Methuen & Co, 1967 * Haughton, Brian. ''Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries''. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2019. * Hourihane, Colum. ''The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 1''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. * Kelly, Eamonn. "The Treasury: content and context". ''Irish Arts Review (2002-)'', volume 28, No. 2, 2011. * Kelly, Eamonn.
Guide to the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology
. Dublin: National Museum of Ireland, 2007 * Kelly, Eamonn.
Bodies from the Bog: New Insights into Life and Death in Pagan Celtic Ireland
. In: Fagan, Brian (ed), '' Unearthing the Bodies from the Bog: New Insights into Life and Death in Pagan Celtic Ireland''. London: Thames and Hudson, 2007. * Laing, Lloyd Robert. ''The archaeology of late Celtic Britain and Ireland, c. 400–1200 AD''. Taylor & Francis, 1975. * Lucas, A. T. "The Social Role of Relics and Reliquaries in Ancient Ireland". ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', volume 116, 1986. * O'Neill, Timothy. ''The Irish Hand: Scribes and Their Manuscripts From the Earliest Times''. Cork: Cork University Press, 2014. * Overbey, Karen. ''Sacral Geographies: Saints, Shrines and Territory in Medieval Ireland''. "Studies in the Visual Cultures of the Middle Ages", 2012. * Mahr, Adolf. "Irish Early Christian Handicraft". ''

Limerick Leader The ''Limerick Leader'' is a weekly local newspaper in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It was founded in 1889. The newspaper is headquartered on Glentworth Street in the City. The broadsheet paper currently is distributed in three editi ...

'', 1939 * Mitchell, Frank (ed.). ''Treasures of Early Irish Art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D.'' NY:

, 2013. * Moss, Rachel. ''Medieval c. 400—c. 1600: Art and Architecture of Ireland''. Yale University Press, 2014. * Murray, Griffin. "Insular-type crosiers: their construction and characteristics". ''Making and Meaning in Insular Art: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Insular Art'', 2007 * Ó Floinn, Raghnal. ''The Moylough Belt-Shrine''. In: Fenwick, Joe (ed), "Lost and Found: Discovering Ireland's Past". Dublin: Worldwell, 2003. * Ó Floinn, Raghnal; Wallace, Patrick. ''Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities''. National Museum of Ireland, 2002. * O'Toole, Fintan. ''A History of Ireland in 100 Objects''. Dublin:

, 2013. * Rudolph, Conrad (ed.). "A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe". Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Blackwell, 2019. * Stalley, Roger. "Irish Art in the Romanesque and Goth Periods". In: ''Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D: From the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin''. NY:

, 1977. * Warner, George F. (ed.)
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External links

Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Museum of Ireland - Archaeology History museums in the Republic of Ireland National museums of the Republic of Ireland Museums in Dublin (city) Archaeological museums in the Republic of Ireland Military and war museums in the Republic of Ireland *