Músaem na Scríbhneoirí, Baile Átha Cliath | |
 | |
  Location within Central Dublin | |
| Established | November 1991 |
|---|---|
| Location | 18 Parnell Square, Dublin |
| Coordinates | 53°21′16″N 6°15′50″W / 53.354383°N 6.26401°W |
| Public transit access | Dublin Bus route 46E |
| Website | writersmuseum |
The Dublin Writers Museum was a museum of literary history in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in November 1991, closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was brought to an end in 2022 without ever reopening.
Purpose and facilities
The museum was set up at No 18, Parnell Square, Dublin, Ireland. It occupied an original 18th-century house, which accommodated the museum rooms, library, gallery, and an administration area. The annexe behind it held a coffee shop and bookshop on the ground floor, and exhibition and lecture rooms on the floors above. Dublin stuccatore Michael Stapleton decorated the upstairs gallery.
The Irish Writers' Centre, next door in No 19, contains the meeting rooms and offices of the Irish Writers' Union, the Society of Irish Playwrights, the Irish Children's Book Trust and the Irish Translators' & Interpreters' Association. The basement beneath both houses is occupied by the Chapter One restaurant.
The Museum was established to promote interest, through its collection, displays and activities, in Irish literature as a whole and in the lives and works of individual Irish writers. Through its association with the Irish Writers' Centre, it provided a link with living writers and the international literary scene. On a national level, it aimed to act as a centre, "pulling together the strands of Irish literature" and complementing the smaller, more focused museums devoted to individuals like James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats and Patrick Pearse.
Writers featured in the museum included some who had made an important contribution to Irish or international literature or, on a local level, to the literature of Dublin.
On display in the museum were literary ephemera and memorabilia, including a detailed replica of The Book of Kells, Samuel Beckett's phone, a letter from 'tenement aristocrat' Brendan Behan to his brother, the Abbey Theatre ephemera of Lady Gregory, a 1910 letter from W.B. Yeats, opening night programmes for Oscar Wilde plays An Ideal Husband and Lady Windermere's Fan, an 1804 edition of Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, a third edition of The Crock of Gold by James Stephens, a first edition of James Joyce's Pomes Penyeach, and a first edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula along with an autograph letter from Stoker. The museum also included portraits of Irish writers, including originals by artists such as Patrick Swift, Reginald Gray, Edward McGuire and Harry Kernoff.
David Norris launched his presidential campaign ahead of the Irish presidential election at Dublin Writers Museum on 5 October 2011.[1][2]
History
Having opened in 1991, the museum closed in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 lockdown.[3] It did not reopen. Set up by Dublin Tourism, it was transferred to Bord Failte in 2012. Bord Failte commissioned a report on its future in 2020, which concluded that it had become dated relative to modern expectations, so in 2022, the decision to end the operation permanently was made.[3] Two staff retired, two were allocated other Bord Failte duties. Announcements on the future of owned and lent artifacts were to follow.[3]
Gallery
First floor
Stained glass windows
George Jameson Historical Marker concerning the history of the house
References
- ↑ "Norris: Voters can decide on my credibility". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- ↑ Carroll, Steven; Nihil, Cían. "Norris got TCD disability pay". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- 1 2 3 Ó Conghaile, Pól. "Dublin Writers Museum closed as it 'no longer meets expectation of contemporary visitor'". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 August 2022.