The award-winning National Museum of Ireland – Country Life in Turlough Park, Castlebar, will soon reach another major milestone when it celebrates the 10th anniversary of its official opening. On Monday September 19, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny will join the celebrations to mark the official opening which took place on September 9 2001.
Home to the national folklife collection, the National Museum of Ireland – Country Life is housed in modern, purpose-built, display galleries and storage facilities, set in the beautiful grounds of the imposing 19th century Turlough Park House. The museum houses – and displays – the objects used by ordinary people in rural Ireland in their everyday lives in the century or so between the end of the Great Famine and the aftermath of World War II. It offers a fascinating insight into these people’s lives.
In the decade since opening, the Museum of Country Life has surpassed all expectations and has firmly established itself as one of the country’s premier visitor attractions. Each year, more than 100,000 people visit the museum. The museum’s millionth visitor came through the doors in August 2010, less than nine years after it first opened.
Prestigious awards have also helped to establish the museum as an important national cultural resource. Only two months after opening the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life was awarded the prestigious title of Museum of the Year 2001 by the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Heritage Council of Ireland, in association with the Northern Ireland Museums Council. The Education Programme has also been recognised in the various awards which the museum has received. In 2004 and 2009 the Sandford Award for Heritage Education was awarded by the Heritage Education Trust ‘in recognition of the quality education delivered” to schools. (This award is presented every five years ). The Best Access and Outreach Initiative award was presented by President Mary McAleese for its lively and dynamic education programme at the 2003 Museum of the Year Awards.
In addition to the permanent displays, there is an ever-changing programme of temporary exhibitions. Over the years these have covered subjects as varied as childhood in the 1950s and 1960s, the dancehall scene in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, Aran knitwear and the way it was marketed, how Ireland was portrayed in travel posters in the middle of the 20th century – and this is only a small selection.
The museum also runs a constantly changing programme of workshops, events and festivals for adults, families and schools.
Tenth birthday celebrations – a public event
A special afternoon of celebration will be held on Monday September 19 (from 3pm to 5.30pm ) to mark the museum’s 10th anniversary. An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who was so instrumental in the decision to locate the museum in Turlough Park, will visit the museum to help celebrate what has been achieved in the past 10 years. This celebration, which is open to the public, will include master craftsmen demonstrating their traditional skills, musical entertainment, ceramic plate painting with the museum’s education and outreach department, vintage machinery, and much more.
A retrospective exhibition of posters from the museum’s temporary exhibition programme over the last 10 years has just been unveiled in the museum café. This is complemented in the museum cafe by an exhibition of photographs from museum events held between 2001-2011.
The museum is open year round, Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm; Sunday, 2pm to 5pm. Closed Mondays (incl Bank Holidays ).
