Proclaiming a Republic: the 1916 Rising Exhibition - well worth a visit!

Image from www.museum.ie

On a showery Friday morning library staff travelled to Collins Barracks in Dublin for what transpired to be a very informative and thought-provoking visit. The National Museum of Ireland - Decorative Arts & History has one of the largest displays of materials exhibiting on 1916. The exhibition aims to reflect on 100 years of gathering, memorialising and celebrating the objects that offer the last palpable links to the folk of 1916.

We grouped in the Museum cafe for caffeine before we began our hour long guided tour of the exhibition with Lisa, who showed us the focal memorabilia of the exhibition with energetic narratives of their presence, exploring the proclamation, flags, weapons, clothing, handwritten messages and further artifacts connecting us with the events of Easter Week. An hour is undeniably nowhere near enough time to absorb all on display so we spent sufficient time independently browsing the exhibit and reading accounts of the individuals and organisations who participated in events of 1916. In addition to exploring the accounts of those who were incarcerated or died, personal descriptions of the civilians caught in the crossfire are also incorporated.

You can also visit the following exhibitions; The Asgard, Soldiers and Chiefs, and Recovered Voices: The Stories of Irish at War, 1914-1915 currently on display at Collins Barracks. Further exhibitions that display the Decorative Arts and History collections include: The Way We Wore, Eileen Gray and Asian art.

All in all a great day out... with over 15,000 objects in the Easter Week collection alone it's well worth a visit. For more information see http://www.museum.ie/Decorative-Arts-History.