BY TONY CANAVAN Plans for the National Museum of Ireland Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, recently launched the National Museum of Ireland’s (NMI) €85m, fifteen-year ‘master vision statement’ with extensive plans for the four museums in its charge. The Natural History Museum (a.k.a. the ‘dead zoo’) will be extended, … Read more
The chevalier brothers-in-law—Thomas O’Gorman, antiquary, genealogist and wine merchant, and Charles-Geneviève d’Éon de Beaumont, transgender diplomat and spy. By Seán O’Halloran The publication of a recently discovered copy of the manuscript of the genealogy of the house of O’Reilly by Clachan Publishing has drawn attention to its compiler, the largely forgotten eighteenth-century antiquary Chevalier Thomas … Read more
Ireland and the history of blasphemy. By David Nash For much of the twentieth century, western governments believed either that blasphemy laws were long-dead fragments of a bygone age or that they simply sat quietly and unnoticed in dust-laden legal volumes away from the public gaze. Events at the end of the twentieth century indicated … Read more
A South Wind Blows production, directed by Nuala O’Connor (in selected Irish cinemas from November 2018) By Conor McNamara An unprecedented popular interest in the history of the Irish Revolution has generated a plethora of documentaries and television series in recent years, kicked off by the uniquely emotive centenary of the 1916 Rising. Keepers of … Read more
Ulster Museum, Belfast www.nmni.com/our-museums/ulster-museum By Tony Canavan To mark the twentieth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the Ulster Museum has set up a new exhibition exploring the history of the Troubles, which examines Northern Ireland’s recent past through a range of objects reflecting diverse perspectives and experiences. Many objects were contributed by the public … Read more