Dublin's Odd Museums

Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio

Taking its name from the nickname given to Radio Éireann by Seán Lemass, Ye Old Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio has been operating from Howth’s Martello Tower since 2003. With walls lined with posters and advertising signs, and floor space and cabinets crammed with radios and gramophones, curator Pat Herbert has built up quite a collection since he started in 1954. The tower itself has historic ties with the development of the hurdy gurdy, as radio pioneers Lee DeForest and Guglielmo Marconi both experimented from there in 1903 and 1905 respectively. Last Saturday (24th April) saw visitors trek to the tower for International Marconi Day, where the team operated Morse code all over the world to distant Marconi enthusiasts. Herbert tells us, “We’ve received messages from all over – Newfoundland, Russia and European countries.” The most recent item in the exhibit is a record player but the museum is looking forward too. “We cover everything from the wireless to the web; did you look up our website?” Herbert asks. We just might.

Ye Olde Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio, http://ei5em.110mb.com/museum.html. open May to October: 11am-5pm daily, November to April 11am -4pm (weekends only), admission €5


The National Wax Museum Plus

Somewhere out there, a glazed Tellytubby dressed up as Stalin shares a sofa with Hannibal Lecter who is dolled up in a Marylin Monroe wig. This is probably an idealistic scenario for the waxworks and costumes stolen from the original wax museum, but we live in hope. Having reopened last year in a new venue off College Green, the National Wax Museum Plus has replaced and expanded on the missing pieces. It now encompasses a history vault, writers’ rooms, sound studio, film and music legends, chamber of horrors, Irish legends and oh, Mr. Freeze is there too. We’re delighted the robbery didn’t send him to the cooler. Bewildered visitor Oisín O’Brion from Laois gave us his verdict as he was leaving, “It was an unnerving and surreal experience, a very odd mix. They’ll probably have a Jedward statue next.” Again, we live in hope.

The National Wax Museum Plus, 4 Foster Place, Dublin 2. waxmuseumplus.ie. Tel: 671 8373, admission €7 for children, €9 for adults. Students, teenagers & concession €9. Family Ticket: 2 Adults & 2 Children (under 12) €30


The Mobile Phone Museum

This venture received a great reception (wheeey…) when it opened in January this year. From 80s bricks to the iPhone, The Mobile Phone Museum is committed to the preservation of iconic mobiles. Curator Alan Donohue worked in the industry for years before combining private collections for public exhibit - with a little help from eBay. “We’ve got a good few pieces from there too. The most we’ve paid is £600 on the Motorola Dynatac, the world’s first mobile. It’s a big collector’s item”, Donohue explains. But his favourite phone of all time is the Nokia 6310i - “the sturdiest phone ever made, there’s nothing else like it.” The world’s smallest phone, the first Bluetooth, first phone watch and the first to vibrate are all behind glass, but if you ask nicely they might let you take a snap pretending to be Zac Morris or Gordon Gekko - which ever you fancy.

The Mobile Phone Museum, 6-7 Abbey Street, Dublin 2, mobilephonemuseum.ie, Tel: 8728722, free admission


The National Leprechaun Museum

With its 30lb crock of gold and a promise to take visitors to the heart of Irish identity, this Abbey Street venture faces a hard sell. The very mention of a National Leprechaun Museum induces scoffs and sniggers, but then anyone who’s ever been asked about their existence by non-natives can see some reasoning. Hell, why didn’t anyone think of this earlier? Concentrating more on folklore than paddywhackery, the museum combines interactive experience, such as making visitors feel a third of their size in a room of giant furniture, with more a traditional exhibition showing representations of leprechauns in pop culture. Some advice, be careful not to drop your souvenir leprechaun coin in the fare box on Dublin Bus. You will be gutted, and a sympathetic but resigned shrug from a bus driver won’t bring it back.

The National Leprechaun Museum, Abbey Street (Jervis Luas), Dublin 1. leprechaunmuseum.ie, admission €10 for adults, €7 for children/concession. Family Ticket: 2 adults & 2 children) €27. A €10 ticket includes a souvenir leprechaun coin which can be kept or redeemed in the museum shop/café to the value of €3


The Revenue Museum

Everyone has been more interested in the state’s revenue since, well, we ran out, but it’s still pretty hard to get excited about this museum. Opened by then Minister for Finance, Brian Cowen in 2007, The Revenue Museum sells itself as “a graphic and interactive exhibition of Tax and Customs collection, protection and accounting from the distant past to the present.” That makes it sound quite epic. While we admit we couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm to personally road test this museum, we were not helped by the unsociable opening hours Mon-Fri 10am - 4pm. With a lengthy break down of the role of revenue in the foundation of the state and pretty much every thing since, we’re imagining a kind of Reeling in the Years without the emotive music. We asked accountant Aidan Ryan from Tallaght what he thought of the museum, “I actually thought you were having a laugh, a revenue museum? Sounds made up. Never heard of it.” You couldn’t make it up.

The Revenue Museum, Chapel Crypt, Lower Yard, Dublin Castle, Dublin 2. revenue.ie, Tel: 8635 601


St. Michan’s Church

Although it’s not in the title (we’re bending the rules a bit here), the underground burial vaults of this Northside church is a mummy museum. It’s certainly a catchier and more descriptive name. For within the dry crypts of this inconspicuous church lie mummified remains, four of which are fully open for public viewing. By tip-toeing down a narrow stone stairway, you come to limestone tunnel with narrow coffin galleries on either side. In one alcove, casket lids are removed to reveal dried bodies with leathered skin covered in a thick film of dust. The tour guide will tell you the cadaver of ‘the crusader’ is meant to bring luck and to touch his finger, but there doesn’t seem to be anything too lucky about this scenario - considering he’s stuffed in an ill-fitting coffin with people prodding his corpse. Not for the fainted hearted.

St. Michan’s Church, 8 East Church Street, Dublin 3. Tel: 872 4154