A Good Day for a Museum

This past Saturday it was forecasted to rain all day long, so I decided it was best to go into town and find something for us to do indoors. I love being so close to the city! T wanted to go to both of the National Museums of Ireland. The best part is that they are FREE like the Smithsonian at home. The museums are located on Kildare Street. Its close to some of the shopping areas and Irish government offices. The street is most known for the Leinster House which is the current seat of the Irish parliament. It was first a residence for the Duke of Leinster before it was a parliament building. It was  built in the mid-1700's. James Hoban studied the design of this building in school, and years later won a competition to design the White House in the US. He modeled the White House after the Leinster House. I thought that was a very interesting fact. There is even a plaque with his name on the exterior of the White House. Hoban ended up living in DC and married a girl from Georgetown. He helped with the designs of many churches in DC, Georgetown University, roads and bridges, former President houses in the US, and a few buildings back in his hometown Kilkenny, Ireland. 

Leinster House

To the right of the Leinster House is the National Museum of Archeology. We decided to go there first. 

The museum opened its doors here back in 1890 from a previous location. Its a pretty looking building and the columns are all marble. 

The tiled floors throughout the museum are so detailed. I noticed that there were also tiled fireplaces in every single room. I am assuming these were lit to heat the building when the museum first opened before there were radiators and central heating.  

The museum focuses mainly on prehistoric Ireland - gold, church treasures, and the Viking and medieval periods. One of the famous examples of medieval Celtic work is the Ardagh Chalice. 

Ardagh Chalice

The chalice was found in 1868 and they believe it dates to 700-800AD. 

Tara Brooch

The Tara Brooch is from 700AD and was found in 1850. Its considered to be the most impressive over the 50 brooches they have found from this time period. 

The interior of the main building

The bell on top is St. Patrick's Bell

This bell is reputed to have belonged to St. Patrick. The inscription on the exterior of the bell indicates it was made around 1100AD. 
After we were finished here we walked around the corner to the National History Museum...