Limerick City Museum

Limerick Museum

Established	1906 (1906)
Location	Civic Buildings, Merchant's Quay, Limerick
Collection size	Over 50,000 objects

Limerick Museum, previously known as the Jim Kemmy Municipal Museum, is a city museum in Limerick, Ireland.^[1]

Foundation

The Limerick museum was founded in 1906 and housed in the building which is now the city art gallery. The location of the museum has changed many times throughout the last century, moving from Pery Square to John Square, to Castle Lane and now Civic Buildings, Merchant's Quay. The museum is now located in City Hall next to the Courthouse and St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick.

The museum is run by Limerick City Council. It is fully accessible to all. Entry to the museum is free.

Limerick museum received national recognition as a museum under the Cultural Institution Act 1997, which allowed it to become a designated museums of the collection of archaeological material. Larry Walsh was curator of the museum from 1977 until 2012. ^[2]

It houses thousands of items relating to the history of Limerick from the Stone Age to the present day. The exhibitions in the museum are rotated often to display these thousands of items by topic. In the Retrospective Exhibition the Charter of the City signed by King Charles II of England, a sword given to the city by Queen Elizabeth I of England as well as many other interesting items relating to civic life in the city were on display.

Exhibitions

Many of the Limerick Museum exhibitions are run with Limerick Archives under the name LM&A Limerick Museum and Archives

From January to April 2014 - Haselbeck Collection,^[3] a series of images and items from Franz S Haselbeck dating back to the early 1900s. This Exhibition was visited by the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins in February 2014^[4]

April 2014 to December 2014 - Retrospective, two part exhibition marking the end of Limerick City and Limerick County Councils. The Limerick City Council exhibition was held in Limerick Museum and marked 800 years of local government in the city. Limerick County Council exhibition was held in County Hall, Dooradoyle, Limerick and marked 125 years of local government in the county ^[5]

December 2014 - Limerick lace exhibition launched to coincide with the publication of the Amazing Lace book by Dr. Matthew Potter, Edited by Jacqui Hayes.^[6] The Limerick lace industry was established in 1829 when Charles Walker, an English businessman selected a premises in Mount Kennett, Limerick city as the location for a lace factory. Limerick lace was produced mainly in factories for the first forty years of its existence. Between the 1830s and 1860s, several lace factories operated in Limerick, mainly in Clare Street and Glentworth Street. Limerick Museum holds one of the largest collections of Limerick lace in the world.^[7]

Noted Items in the Collection

• The largest meteorite ever to fall on the British Isles lands at Adare, County Limerick.^[8]
• A rare intact Codd-neck bottle^[9]
• Selection of 18th and 19th Century Limerick Silver
• Scabbard used by Lord Edward Fitzgerald at his arrest in 1798 ^[10]
• Three Blunderbuss firearms
• Stone Age and Iron Age Archaeological finds
• A range of clothing including a gentlemans suit c.1706 ^[11]

See also

• History of Limerick
• Limerick Museum and Archives
• Hunt Museum
• Limerick City Gallery of Art
• List of museums in the Republic of Ireland

References

External links

• Limerick Museum website
• Limerick Museum on TripAdvisor