Ireland is a land of legend, of history, of creativity, of art, art, of music, of stories.
It is also a land of inspiration. Its stories are often preserved and told in the most inspiring museums of Ireland.
As you plan your tours to Ireland, one sure way to learn its stories is to get to know its museums.
Here are seven ideas of museums in Ireland that will inspire you, and tips on what to explore in them to get you started.
Irish Emigration Museum
Epic: The Irish Emigration Museum tells stories of Ireland through the perspective of emigration.
Why have people left Ireland, in the past and recently? Where did they go? What impacts have they had? What connections have they made in their new homes and back to Ireland? What can be learned about Ireland and beyond from their stories?
Epic invites visitors to explore all this through 20 galleries of visual, interactive, and digital material framed around the stories of more than 300 individuals. The first seven rooms focus on history. Then stories turn to how emigrants from Ireland have shaped art, politics, sports, music, dance, and other areas in the places in which they made new homes.
Visitors can immerse themselves in visual, film, and interactive experiences, and for instance, follow a pattern of steps across the floor to try out their Irish dance skills.
National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology
Not far away, you may step into a different but equally inspiring way museums in Ireland tell stories at the National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology in Kildare Street. 
At the National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology you will be inspired by real objects and the stories of people who used and made them.
Ireland’s Gold inspires with beauty, craft, and skill in one of the most extensive collections of Bronze Age gold in Western Europe. There is the Ardagh Chalice, a fine example of early medieval art which was buried and forgotten for long years, perhaps to keep it safe from Viking raiders. There are relics and artifacts from those Viking times too.
Rock of Cashel
Another inspiring place to add to your tours of museums in Ireland is the Rock of Cashel, in Tipperary.
It is truly a rock, rising from the plains. Cashel has seen a lot of history: it’s said that Aengus, the first Christian king of Ireland, was baptized at the rock in 432, by Saint Patrick, and it was stronghold of the Kings of Munster who ruled a large part of Ireland until early in the 12th century.
Then it was handed over to the church, and so began the creation of many of the buildings you see today. Battles, political change, neglect, and revival all ensued. You will be inspired by the Romanesque design of space in Cormac’s Chapel and the spiritual power of Gothic Saint Patrick‘s Cathedral.
The Rock of Cashel, one of the top museums in Ireland you can explore mainly outdoors, is now managed by Ireland’s Office of Public Works/Heritage Ireland.
Ulster American Folk Park
Coming forward in time in Ireland’s story, there’s the Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh in Tyrone in Northern Ireland. Like the Rock of Cashel, the Ulster American Folk Park has both open-air and indoor places to explore.
The focus is on day-to-day life in 18th, 19th, and early 20th century Ireland and in the North American regions to which many emigrated. In both the Old World and New World sections of the park you may explore streets of village shops, visit a school, a church or two, and find a welcome at a farmstead. There are costumed guides who offer stories along with exhibits to help you understand as well.
Ulster American Folk Park is part of the National Museums Northern Ireland.
Titanic Belfast
Another museum you will want to add to your tours to Ireland is Titanic Belfast.
It is located on Belfast’s waterfront where the historic ship was built. The building itself is the same height as the hull of the ship was — a fact that will certainly make you think before you even enter the museum.
There are nine areas within Titanic Belfast museum complex. Bustling Belfast gives context to what shipbuilding and building of the Titanic meant to the city. The Shipyard, Launch, and Fit Out sections take you into the lives of those who worked to build the great ship as well as what their work was like. The Maiden Voyage takes you along as Titanic begins its journey, calling in at ports in England, France, and Ireland before setting out westward.
In The Sinking, recordings of survivors telling their stories mix with distress calls from the ship and images of press reports of the time — and a wall of lifejackets at the same height as was the iceberg. As many museums in Ireland do, Titanic Belfast is strong on giving context to its stories.
In Aftermath you are met with a full sized replica of one of the Titanic’s lifeboats, as well as material about investigations that ensued. Myths and Legends lets you know about stories, books, films, music, and other ways the Titanic story goes on. Titanic Beneath has film, audio, and images of the Titanic as she is today beneath the sea.
Old Library at Trinity College Dublin
For a somewhat quieter look into Ireland’s history through the stories museums in Ireland tell, take a visit to the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin, where you are sure to be inspired by books, music, and art. That art is from the Book of Kells.
The Book of Kells . You’ve seen great and not-so-great replicas of images from this 9th-century manuscript in places from fine art prints to animated movies to beer coasters.
The real thing, though, is inspiring both for its art and its connection to history, to those who made it, and indeed, to its place as an icon of Ireland.
There are usually other medieval manuscripts for you to see as well. Turning Darkness into Light, which gives you context for the book and its creation, leads the way into the area.
In the Old library beyond the Book of Kells is The Long Room. It holds more than 200,000 books. Not your recent best sellers however: by the 1850s its shelves had become completely full.
Among other items in the Old Library is a copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic read outside the General Post Office during the Easter Rising in 1916. There is also a wire-strung harp made of oak and willow which is from the 15th century. It is the model for the harp that appears on Irish euro coins, official documents, and passports.
Smaller Regional Museums of Ireland
These are six fine, inspiring museums to include as you plan your tours of Ireland. My seventh pick is an exploratory wild card. I encourage you to go a little deeper and explore one of the smaller, lesser-known museums of Ireland further on your own.
Ireland tells its stories through many museums scattered around the country. Often they are in larger cities and towns including Dublin, Galway, Cork, and Kilkenny where there will be several to explore. Smaller museums in smaller towns can be inspiring as well though.
These most often choose to specialize in people, history, and stories that arise from their own place.
In Carlingford in County Louth for example, the former railway station is one of the most interesting really small museums of Ireland. It has a room showing what work was like for the stationmaster in times past, and a room devoted to the story of local man Thomas D’Arcy McGee, a writer, activist, and politician whose 19th-century work and life had lasting impact in both Ireland and Canada.
In Newry, which lies just on the Northern Ireland side of the border between the North and the Republic, the Museum of Newry and Mourne is in a building that was a castle in Norman times and a bakery in the 19th century. It tells the story of those days. It is also one of the best museums of Ireland to help you understand the changes and challenges of living along a geographic and political border.
Wherever your tours to Ireland take you, there’s likely to be an inspiring museum of Ireland nearby. Explore and enjoy.
Photographs by Paul O’Farrell, Kenneth Allen Rossographer Trinity College Library, and Kerry Dexter
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