State-Of-The-Art New Home for Monaghan County Museum

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Award-Winning Museum Re-Opens at Brand-New €22m Peace Campus

Major New Exhibition, Bordering Realities – Monaghan People and Stories Explores Evolving Narrative of Life on The Border

Monaghan County Museum has a new home at the state-of-the-art Peace Campus in Monaghan Town following a full year’s closure, which involved the painstaking logging, categorising and relocation of over 50,000 artefacts accumulated over the Museum’s 50-year history.

Museum Staff Picture
Museum Staff

To coincide with the move, a major new exhibition has been unveiled – Bordering Realities – Monaghan People and Stories – heralding a new era at the Museum.

“Over the last five years we have worked to develop the story which became Bordering Realities -Monaghan People and Stories, a major new exhibition exploring the idea of borders in our lives, to coincide with the move to our new home at the Peace Campus,” said Curator Liam Bradley.

“The story of lines is rooted in the bedrock of our community. These lines reflect the bordering realities of life in this county. Over time those lines have bent and curved in response to changes in society and in doing so have created a beautiful mosaic of the cultural diversity and historical richness that is county Monaghan. As we open to the public once again at our new home in the Peace Campus in our 50th year of serving the people of Monaghan we invite everyone to put their foot on the line and explore the question: Do our borders define us or do we define our borders?” Bradley concluded.

Highlights of the new exhibition, include:

  • The Story of the Ulster Scots – working with cross-borders partners in the Ulster Scots Agency as well as organisations representing the Ulster Scots or Scots Irish story in the US, a dedicated space chronicles the journey of sharing cultural ideas and identities.
  • Video interviews with well-known Monaghan people, including Caitriona Balfe, Barry McGuigan, Ardal O’Hanlon and Tommy Bowe, in which they each speak candidly about their own unique, personal experience of growing up on the border.
  • ‘Place’, a short film by award-winning filmmaker, Luke Leslie, commissioned especially for the exhibition – a visual journey which explores the border region around County Monaghan.

 

Visitors can also expect to see key artefacts of local and national significance, including the Cross of Clogher, approximately 500 years old and one of the most famous pieces of Medieval Irish Art in existence; and the fully restored door to Rossmore Castle, one of the last remaining pieces of Rossmore Castle, which was destroyed by fire and demolished eventually in 1974.

Accessibility is at the fore of the new facility: Vision Ireland and the Independent Living Movement of Ireland (ILMI) advised the museum team to ensure that the exhibition can be experienced and enjoyed by all.

Features of include tactile and sensory displays, accessible exhibition cases, comfortable seating, easy to read text and QR codes which take visitors to read aloud version of the information; this feature will also allow visitors to listen to the fascinating stories within the exhibition in their own language.

Monaghan County Museum at the Peace Campus is open Mon-Fri, 11am-5pm for the summer period, with the plan to expand these opening hours later in the year entrance is free of charge.

To find out more, visit www.monaghan.ie/museum/

Monaghan County Museum Achieves Top National Award from The Heritage Council of Ireland

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Award being presented by the Chair of the Heritage Council, Michael Parsons and the CEO of Kilkenny County Council, Colette Byrne to the museum staff along with the Cathaoirleach of Monaghan County Council, Cllr David Maxwell, Director of Service, Adge King and Chairperson of the Museum Advisory Committee, Maeve Hackett.

Monaghan County Museum today (10.07.18) confirmed its status of a Fully Accredited member of the Museum Standards for Ireland Programme at an awards ceremony at Kilkenny Castle.

Established by the Heritage Council in 2006 to benchmark and promote professional standards in the care of collections, the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI) has attracted involvement across the cultural spectrum, from national institutions to small, volunteer-led organisations. Representative of the new dynamism and activity of the museum sector in 2018, Monaghan County Museum is one of 64 museums and galleries to benefit from participation in the MSPI to date. While recognising the achievement of standards through accreditation, the MSPI is also about supporting the museum community as a whole. Its participants engage in a range of processes, which help to secure Ireland’s collections for future generations and to engage its visitors with what those collections have to offer.

Representatives from Monaghan County Museum joined museum workers – professional and voluntary – from across Ireland at the MSPI awards ceremony in Kilkenny Castle today. It was one of nine Irish museums recognised for excellence and professionalism, and one of eight to be awarded the top standard of Full Accreditation. The rigorous assessment process requires museums to meet each of 34 internationally recognised MSPI standards ensuring the highest standards in visitor services, collections care and governance.

The MSPI assessor was impressed with the knowledge and involvement of all of the staff at Monaghan County Museum, which is obvious throughout the policies, exhibitions and education provision. There are many aspects of collection management that are also exemplary.

Plans for the future development of the Museum were also noted in the MSPI assessor’s report. Commenting on this, the Museum’s Curator, Liam Bradley, said:
‘Monaghan County are currently developing plans for a new building to house the service in Monaghan Town. The new museum, which will explore the story of the border region from the Bronze Age Black Pigs Dyke to the modern political border, will form part of a campus that will include a new library and youth service for the region.’

Speaking at the awards ceremony today, the Chairman of the Heritage Council, Mr Michael Parsons said:

‘What we see through this programme is that Ireland’s museums are exciting and vibrant places where the staff are working hard, often with very limited budgets and resources, to ensure that the collections in their care are protected and made available to the public. Not only is this important work from a cultural point of view, it also supports tourism in a locality and helps people feel proud of the place where they live.’

Today’s accreditations followed an extensive assessment programme carried out by national and international experts. Of the eight museums awarded Full Accreditation, four – The Butler Gallery; Chester Beatty Library; Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum and Monaghan County Museum – retained Full Accreditation that had been previously won, while four others – The Heritage Centre, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland; Clare Museum; Músaem Chorca Dhuibhne, Baile an Fheirtéaraig and An Seanchaí – Kerry Writers’ Museum – achieved Full Accreditation for the first time. Thomas MacDonagh Museum in Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary was awarded Interim Accreditation.

 

From a Whisper to a Roar – Exploring the Untold Story of Monaghan 1916 Exhibition

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From a Whisper to a Roar – Exploring the Untold Story of Monaghan 1916 Exhibition

Using rare imagery, objects and film, our 1916 commemorative exhibition brings you back in time to a County Monaghan under British rule where the whisper of an Irish Republic exploded into a roar after the 1916 Rising. Developed in partnership with Professor Terence Dooley, NUI Maynooth, who has written and researched the story of the exhibition.

Visit the Exhibition page >>