Goodbye to class of 2013/2014

Today our 2013/2014 class finish. From all the museum we will miss you, thanks for all your hard work and dedication over the last 11 months and best of luck in all your new endeavours. Come back in to see us and let us know what you are up to!

Graduation 2012-2014

 

On Friday our 2012/2014 class graduated with their FETAC level 5 certificate in Culture and Heritage Studies. Here are some of the class picking up their certs.

Colin Miley is receiving his FETAC level 5- Colin is starting a BA in Archaeology in September at UCD.

Jason McCormack came back to pick up his cert and tell us about the Music and Folklore course in Leitrim that he is studying.

Aoife Daly is starting her MA in Museum Studies at University of Ulster in September.

Fergus Power took the afternoon off from his Tour Guiding position in Airfield, Dundrum, to pick up his cert.

Fergus also received the Best Tour Guide cert, a new award to celebrate the non-certified achievements which our learners have made while studying here.

We would also like to congratulate those who could not be with us on Friday, Gill, Lynda, Gina and Tina, and who are busy with their new courses or roles. Well done everyone!

Our Walking Tour of Dublin City Centre!

Lynda started off the walking tour by telling us about the history of Trinity College Dublin. According to Lynda, not a lot of people know that Trinity was originally outside of Dublin! In 1592, the city did not stretch as far as College Green so the college was originally outside of the city walls.

Danny told us about the former houses of parliament on College Green – now the Bank of Ireland. His favourite fact was that in 2010 Sean Haughey suggested that the former parliament building be turned over to the state in return for the Irish bail-out. Bank of Ireland refused.

Aoife’s stop was the Daniel O’Connell monument on O’Connell Street. Her favourite fact was that at the base of the O’Connell monument there are four angels representing different virtues that were attributed to O’Connell. They are patriotism, courage, eloquence and fidelity. Two of these angels were injured during the conflicts between 1916 and 1922.

Tina’s stop was the General Post Office. Her favourite fact was that the Spire of Dublin is seven times taller than the GPO!

Colin told us all about Nelson’s Pillar and the Spire of Dublin. His favourite fact about the Spire is that the pattern surrounding the bottom ten metres is based on a core sample taken from deep beneath the ground of the Spire.

Fergus’s stop was the Charles Stuart Parnell monument on O’Connell Street. While researching his presentation, Fergus came across the quote ‘you must show him by leaving him severely alone’ which was said in reference to a man taking a farm from another who had been evicted.

Jason told us about the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square. His favourite fact was that the idea for the mosaic of weapons on the bottom of the water feature comes from a Celtic custom – when a battle concluded they threw their weapons into the river to signify an end to hostilities.

We couldn’t decide who should win the prize for best presentation so we all went for tea and scones instead!

St Brigid’s day

Happy St Brigid’s day or Happy Imbolc day? Did you know that St Brigit’s day which falls on 1 February was formerly a very important Celtic festival celebrating the goddess Imbolc. This day was one of the 4 important quarter days for the celts. The other three include Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. Imbolc’s day marked the beginning of the spring. Imbolc means ‘in the belly’ and probably refers to the period when sheep give birth. The fact that the date coincides with celebration of a Christian saint is not uncommon. The Christian church often took over pagan holidays as a way of popularising itself and ensuring converts to it’s cause so many christian days of celeberation that are distinctly Irish fall on, or very near, to pagan feast days.

To mark the day, and as part of our Folklore studies, we will be reading about the life of St Brigid from Patricia Lynch’s Knights of God. We couldn’t resist adding the cover as we love the 1960s illustration. We will also be attempting to make St Brigit’s crosses… If we manage to assemble one correctly we might add the pictures later but here is a clip from an expert on how to make them.

National Folklore Department

On Tuesday we went to visit the National Folklore Department at UCD. The collection is held in an archive at the Department of Folklore in UCD and is the second largest Folklore Collection in the world after Finland’s collection. We were given a guided tour of the collection by Criostoir Mac Carthaigh, the archivist at the centre and author of Traditional Boats of Ireland: History, folklore and construction.

Criostoir told us about the early folklore collectors who established the National folklore Commission and the pioneers of Irish ethnology and ethnography collections. he also showed us some of the wonderful paintings in their department (pictured above is the folklorist Sean O’Sullivan). We were allowed to see some documents from the archive too. Criostoir showed us some copy books from the ‘School’s Folklore Scheme’ which was carried out between 1937-38. Over 20,000 school children took part by collecting family folk stories. This collection is currently being digitized.

Criostoir also explained how surveys are structured and carried out. They are currently undertaking a survey on Cromwell in Ireland and it can be filled out here. One of the highlights was viewing an ediphone machine (picture below of Criostoir showing the machine) which was used in field work in the 1930s as well as a phonograph (picture below). We were also allowed to hear an interview from the period and some music that had been recorded in the 1930s.

We would like to thanks Criostior and Simon for taking the time out to show us the wonderful collection.

Museum Review: IMMA

The museum that I have chosen to review is IMMA, the Irish museum of modern art, the reason I chose this museum was that I had heard a lot of criticism about modern art and wanted to make my own mind up on whether I liked it or not.

Currently IMMA’s main building at Kilmainham’s royal hospital is under refurbishment so the museum has been split into two parts one part is in Kilmainham and the other part at the national concert hall (N.C.H). I attended the exhibit at the N.C.H. The exhibition was called ‘Becoming’ and it was a 25 year retrospective  of an Irish artist Alice Maher. I really enjoyed the exhibit especially her use of organic materials such as snails and berry’s in much of her work. I found the staff very helpful and the gallery had a great space and feel to it for the display.

I went on a guided tour which was free and very helpful also I found the staff very passionate about the exhibit. The museum is open from 10- 5 every day except Thursday when it opens late until 7 and there are free tours available , this current exhibit on Alice Maher’s work is running until the 3^rd of February  and they also offer a different lunchtime lecture every Friday.

There is a bookshop on site but there is no coffee shop this is fine for some as the n.c.h is only a stone’s throw away from St. Stephens green but could be tiresome if someone had children with them. All in all I feel this is a great venue and a great exhibition and I would recommend taking the opportunity to open your mind to the world of modern art.

Jason McCormack