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NATIONAL MUSEUM OF IRELAND - COUNTRY LIFE
TURLOUGH PARK, CASTLEBAR, CO. MAYO
PUBLIC PROGRAMME 07-31 DECEMBER 2013
Contents:
* Christmas Opening Times * Christmas Festivities begin! * Programme of events
* Temporary Exhibitions * Museum Shop & Café * On-line Resources * Other Details
01. CHRISTMAS OPENING TIMES:
Regular Museum opening times apply this Christmas, except for the following days over the Christmas period:
· Tuesday 24 December 2013 (Christmas Eve): closed from 1pm
· Wednesday 25 December 2013 (Christmas Day): closed
· Monday 30 December 2013: closed as normal.
· Please note: the Museum Shop and Café will re-open on Friday 27 December 2013.
02. CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES KICK OFF THIS WEEKEND IN THE MUSEUM
Return of Santa is highlight of Museum's Christmas programme
TOMORROW - SATURDAY 7 DECEMBER: CHRISTMAS FAMILY DAY
Santa & his Elves, Festive Music, Exhibitions and Activities
Santa tickets available from Museum Reception from 11am, cost €3 per child. Bring your Santa ticket to Brambles in the Museum Café and get your FREE tea/coffee & children's drink.
Santa and his Elves will be welcoming children from 2-4pm in the Hearth & Home area. From 2.30pm festive tunes will fill the air as the Museum's talented Music Circle and the wonderful uileann piper Diarmuid Moynihan join forces to celebrate Christmas in their very special style. Visitors are invited to explore their creativity too from 2pm when Tom and Aoife will guide you in making magical 3-D star decorations to bring home with you. Nostalgia ... Traditions ... Memories....
While in the Museum, make sure to visit Christmases Past, a charming exhibition of festive artefacts - from the archives and from the public. This runs until 29 December. Also, write a festive greeting to family & friends and we will hang it on our Christmas Greetings Tree. Designed by Mayo ArtSquad, we invite you to share your greetings until 29 December.
Full details available on: http://goo.gl/UV2BVQ
03. PROGRAMME OF EVENTS
Visit www.ouririshheritage.org to find out about local Irish history & heritage and to contribute photos and stories about your locality.
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES PROGRAMME - see details above.
Saturday 14 December: 11am. Drop-in Activity. Mayo Genealogy Group. Adults.
If you have an interest in finding out about your family history come along for free practical tips with the Mayo Genealogy Group. No booking required. New researchers welcome.
Saturday 14 December: 2-4pm. Drop-in Activity. Christmas Textile Decorations. Family 7yrs+.
Join members of the Connacht Textile Crafters to make your own textile decorations for Christmas. No booking required. First come, first served.
Wednesday 18 December: 2-3pm. Performance. The Master's Play' with Killocraun NS. All Ages. Step back in time to an Irish classroom, where you will meet the imposing 'Máistir' and hard of hearing parish priest! A visit from the 'Cigire' who listens to the compliant pupils sing some old Irish songs and recite some 'dánta' ensures that the Máistir will receive his pay packet the following month from the Department! No booking required.
Wednesday 18 December: 3-4pm. Performance. Christmas Carols with Foxford NS. All Ages. Get in the Christmas spirit put on that Santa hat and join the Foxford National School Band for our annual Christmas carols sing-along. No booking required.
04. TEMPORARY EXHIBITIONS
CHRISTMAS PAST INCLUDING YOUR CHRISTMAS STORIES
A charming exhibition of festive artefacts - from the Museum archives and from the public. Some come from the Museum collection but for the first time ever, they are complemented by a special exhibition of Christmas-related objects on loan from the general public. This display of ordinary and extraordinary items reveals personal, and often touching, stories of Christmases past. This exhibition is on Level D and runs until the end of December 2013.
HAIR HURLING BALLS: Earliest Artefacts of Our National Game
This exciting new exhibition firmly establishes the antiquity of our national game of Hurling with radio-carbon dated hurling balls from 800 years ago! The hair hurling ball collection of the National Museum of Ireland is displayed with an ancient hurling stick. These hurling balls are of matted cow-hair with a plaited horse-hair covering. This exhibition looks at these bog finds in relation to where in the country they were discovered, how they were made and the scientific analysis undertaken by the Museum. This revealed so much more than the naked eye could see... The exhibition runs until May 2014.
Other exhibitions include:
· 100 OBJECTS MUSEUM TRAIL
In a partnership between the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), the Irish Times and the Royal Irish Academy, 100 objects have been chosen by journalist Fintan O'Toole to take us through the history of people in Ireland over 7,000 years. 4 of these objects can be seen in the NMI-Country Life, Turlough Park.
· No. 81 EMPTY COOKING POT, 1845-9
· No. 82 EMIGRANT'S TEAPOT, 1850-1950.
· No. 93 BOYNE CORACLE, 1928
· No. 95 EMIGRANT'S SUITCASE, 1950s.
No. 66 CRUCIFIXION STONE, 1740 & No. 77 WICKER CRADLE, 19th & 20th Centuries are also from the NMI-Country Life's Folklife collection and are based in NMI-Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, Dublin.
Further details can be found on:
http://www.museum.ie/en/list/history-of-ireland-in-100-objects.aspx and on http://www.100objects.ie/
Visit http://www.museum.ie/en/exhibition-list/country-life-temporary-exhibitions.aspx for details about temporary exhibitions which are ongoing in the Museum Galleries
Café art Exhibition
Buildings of County Mayo
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage is carrying out a survey of the post 1700 built heritage of the country. This photographic exhibition, which is currently running in the Museum Café, marks the publication of the Co Mayo survey. The purpose of the survey is to highlight a representative sample of the architectural heritage of each county and to raise awareness of the wealth of architectural heritage in Ireland. The full survey is published on the website www.buildingsofireland.ie. Photographers: James Fraher, Bogfire, Eamonn McCarthy, Images of Mayo, Simon Wall.
05. MUSEUM SHOP & CAFÉ
Museum Shop: the Museum Shop offers a broad range of affordable quality gifts for the festive season. Unique products to suit all budgets and requirements.
Museum Café: Are you organizing a Christmas lunch for work colleagues, family, friends? Speak to our Café Manager about holding your lunch in the Museum Café. For queries and bookings contact the Museum Café: 094 928 9972; E-mail: maeve@brambles.ie
06. GENERAL INFORMATION
Visit http://www.museum.ie/en/list/calendar-of-events.aspx for details of the current programme of events.
Contact tpark@museum.ie if you would like to join the Museum's e-mail distribution list.
Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Museum-of-Ireland/94907090068?ref=hl
and Twitter: https://twitter.com/NMIreland.
07. MEMORY BOOK PROJECT
Your Stories - Our Histories: Memory Book Project
During your Museum visit, please take a seat at our Memory Book to record personal memories and stories related to the objects and exhibitions you have encountered in the Museum. The Memory Book form can be downloaded and returned to the Museum. This form can be completed even if you haven't been to the Museum yet as we would still like to hear your memories relating to Irish country life.
08. ON-LINE RESOURCES
Blog by the Museum's Documentation Department
The Documentation Department in the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life have launched a blog as a spin off from the Museum's Inventory Project - http://turloughparkhouse.wordpress.com/. Visit this blog to get some information on objects in the Museum's collection.
Website for local heritage
www.ouririshheritage.org features articles on local history and heritage from around the country. Anyone with an interest in their local area can contribute to this website which, it is hoped, will eventually reflect the local history of the island of Ireland. Groups and organisations are welcome to promote their cultural and heritage events via the online events form.
09. MUSEUM OPENING TIMES
Museum: Tuesday-Saturday: 10am - 5pm Sunday: 2-5pm. Closed Mondays (incl. Bank Holiday).
Museum Shop & Café: open during Museum hours with extended opening from 12pm each Sunday.
10. CONTACT DETAILS
GENERAL INFORMATION: Museum Reception: 094 903 1755
MUSEUM CAFÉ: 094 928 9972; e-mail: maeve@brambles.ie
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