The Dead Zoon under theat?

This is a great auld museum. It’s rather cluttered, quirky, antiquated Victorian atmosphere is a rarity there days. I’d hate to see them ‘jazz’ it up, or to put it bluntly, allow the botchers to fuck up the interior.

(Although the revamp that the other museums got in recent years are cool.)

The museum is itself now a museum piece. I don’t think they’d be allowed radically alter what’s already there.

This is a fantastic museum of a museum which does what it says on the tin!! no lazers, no animatronic dinosaurs, just classic displays and a vast collection. You cant argue with the need for extra staff and a general clean-up, but any extension should be distinct from the ‘old’ museum and should not alter the character of this scientific gem, And best of all its free to get in!!

I’d love to see the gift shop moved out to an extension anyway. The dramatic entrace that was dominated by the giant elks, lost some of it’s awe when they were moved back and a gift shop inserted.
I love the museum – it’s like exploring in some half forgotten attic in your eccentric (but imaginary) uncles mansion.

😀 Yes that just about sums it up.

Wonderful place, however the director did stress that any alterations made would be in the form of additions to the building, and that the original part would conserved pretty much as it is.
A big problem is the lack of flexibility the current space offers – as mentioned, only a tiny fraction of the two million specimen collection is on display. I’d imagine there’s little scope for much rotation with the current state of things.

Lovely building too – much more attractive in its orginal modest form than the bloated National Gallery across the way, though the blind windows at ground level are a shame.

It was cleaned by the OPW last year and looks better still now.

No,

unless it becomes a toll plaza for the Leinster Lawn Carpark

Is there no plan for another large! natural history museum elsewhere in Dublin or Ireland in fact. Decentralise the museums!

I hope to God this museum isn’t extended. This musuem is one of a kind and my favourite building in dublin. I love it’s quaintness and how eccentric it is with all of the animals turned the wrong way round on the first floor. I think some historian commended the Irish government for doing nothing at all for 80 years on this building thus preserving it’s Victorian beauty. It is a musuem of a musuem in fact. There was a very interesting radio documentary on it some time back on radio1. Very interesting. More staff is fine just don’t go knocking duwn walls and tearing out old cases for teh sake of it.

From all the coverage of this report, the provision of a restaurant and shop bizarrely seem to be top priority for any extension plans, though that’s probably just the papers’ spin on things.
I wonder if the (eventual) reinstatement of Leinster Lawn would offer the opportunity for excavations under the lawn for further storage, labs and even exhibition areas, rather than filling in part of the space next to Govt Buildings (although this overground area would still be preferable for restaurant facilites). Considering most museums try to avoid windows, going underground shouldn’t really be an issue. Perfect for controalled and safe storage of specimens too, like the IAA 🙂

The report and the discussion at its launch did aknowledge the value of the museum as a museum of a museum and expressed the firm intention to preserve that. What is also important is that we have a good natural history musuem as well; where are the fossils for example, where is the ant farm, where are the travelling displays, where are the childrens labs, where are the special exhibitions, where in the current museum is that actual information? The current musuem needs to be preserved, but we also need a natural history museum.