Ireland

Dublin

St Stephen's Green

Fusiliers' Arch

St Stephen’s Green

Kildare St

Grafton Street

The National Museum of Ireland spreads across multiple sites in Dublin, each telling a different chapter of the island's story. Best of all, admission to every branch is completely free, making Ireland's cultural heritage accessible to all.

The Archaeology branch on Kildare Street is the crown jewel. Built in Victorian Palladian style with a magnificent rotunda and domed roof, it opened in 1890 and holds artifacts spanning from around 7000 BC to the medieval period. The collection includes stunning Bronze and Iron Age objects, bog bodies remarkably preserved by Ireland's peatlands, and the world's largest collection of post-Roman Irish medieval art.

The Natural History branch on Merrion Street, affectionately known by Dubliners as the "Dead Zoo," has changed remarkably little since it opened in 1856. Over 10,000 exhibits display creatures from tiny insects to massive mammals in a setting that feels like stepping into a Victorian naturalist's cabinet of curiosities.

The Decorative Arts and History branch at Collins Barracks occupies a building constructed in 1702, the oldest military barracks in these islands. Since 1997, it has housed exhibitions on Irish clothing, silver, ceramics, and military history, particularly the fight for independence and the formation of the Irish Free State.

Together, the branches offer a comprehensive journey through Irish civilization, from prehistoric farmers to medieval monks to modern revolutionaries. A Questo quest through Dublin can connect these museums with the streets and landmarks that bring their collections to life.

National Museum of Ireland

Unveiled during Dublin's 1988 Millennium celebrations, the bronze statue of Molly Malone depicts the legendary fishmonger from the famous ballad, pushing her wheelbarrow through the streets of the city. Created by artist Jeanne Rynhart, the statue was commissioned by Lord Mayor Ben Briscoe to celebrate the song that has become Dublin's unofficial anthem.

The reception was not entirely warm. The director of the Arts Council wrote to express "universal depreciation," calling the statue "entirely deficient in artistic point and merit." Dubliners, however, embraced it with characteristic humor, giving it nicknames like "The Tart with the Cart" and "The Trollop with the Scallops."

In July 2014, the statue was relocated from its original Grafton Street spot to Suffolk Street to make way for Luas tram construction. Before the move, a practice had developed of tourists rubbing the statue's chest for good luck, a custom that drew growing criticism. In recent years, flowerbeds have been placed around the base to discourage the practice.

Whether Molly Malone was a real person remains debated. The song itself dates to at least the 1880s, but no historical records confirm the existence of a fishmonger by that name. That has not stopped Dublin from claiming her as its own, declaring June 13 as Molly Malone Day.

Real or fictional, Molly has become inseparable from Dublin's identity. A Questo quest through the city center leads you past her statue with stories and challenges that connect the legend to the streets she supposedly walked.

Molly Malone Statue

Irish Whiskey Museum

The Oscar Wilde Monument

Oscar Wilde's childhood home at 1 Merrion Square is where one of literature's greatest wits spent his formative years. Born at 21 Westland Row in 1854, his family moved to this prestigious address the following year, and for two decades it was the cultural epicenter of Dublin.

The driving force of the household was Oscar's mother, Lady Jane Wilde, a poet, writer, and translator who ran a wildly popular weekly salon on the first floor. Artists, musicians, poets, politicians, and philosophers packed the drawing room to share ideas and entertain each other. Young Oscar grew up surrounded by the kind of wit, intellect, and creative energy that would define his own career.

The building now houses American College Dublin, which offers courses in performing arts and creative writing. Tours are available with expert guides who share details about Wilde's remarkable life, from his Dublin childhood through his Oxford education and on to the triumphs and tragedies of his London years.

On the northwest corner of Merrion Square, just across from the house, a colorful statue of Oscar Wilde sprawls on a quartz boulder. His long legs stretch down the side of the rock, and his face wears the knowing, slightly amused expression that defined his public persona. The statue is made from three different types of stone, each a different color, creating a visual effect as flamboyant as its subject.

A Questo quest through literary Dublin connects Wilde's house to other landmarks of Irish writing, turning the city into a living anthology.

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Nearby Attractions

St Stephen's Green

Fusiliers' Arch

St Stephen’s Green

St Stephen’s Green

Kildare St

Grafton Street

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