Of Fairies and Fairy Folk
THE Museum of Country Life has launched a new fairy trail in the woodlands, along the waterways and through the formal gardens of historic Turlough Park.
The artworks along the trail were created by Carmel Balfe and Tom Meskell, of Wandering Lighthouse Artworks. Each fairy dwelling comes with an illustrated panel exploring the stories and folklore associated with a nearby tree.
Admission is free. No booking is required. The fairy trail map is located beside the main exhibition galleries. Take a picture of the map to help you along your way!
A Forgotten Polish Hero
The museum is delighted to host an exhibition about the fascinating life and achievements of Paul Strzelecki - a Polish humanitarian who saved over 200,000 children during the Great Irish Famine.
Created by the Polish Embassy in Dublin, the exhibition is called A Forgotten Polish Hero of the Great Irish Famine: Paul Strzelecki’s Struggle to Save Thousands. It is on display now at the NMI - Country Life as part of a nationwide tour of various venues throughout Ireland.
Count Paul (Paweł) Strzelecki was a world renowned Polish explorer and scientist who volunteered to work in Ireland to combat raging Famine over a three-year period (1847-49) as the main agent of the British Relief Association (BRA).
The Cruel Sea
An art piece crafted from bog oak which remembers 14 Mayo emigrants who sailed on the ill-fated Titanic is on display now in Turlough Park House.
The Cruel Sea by Vincent O’Callaghan forms part of a small exhibition about the group of emigrants known as the ‘Addergoole 14’. The group left their parish of Addergoole at the foot of Nephin and boarded the Titanic in the hopes of finding a better life in America. All but three of the group perished in the catastrophic sinking on April 15, 1912.
The exhibition is loaned by the Addergoole Titanic Society.
The museum is also showing an excerpt from the acclaimed Waking the Titanic documentary-drama film by GMarshTV, Crossmolina, telling the story of the Addergoole 14.
Romance and Reality
The museum features four floors of permanent and temporary exhibitions examining different facets of rural life in Ireland from the 1850s onwards.
Romance and Reality is a small but hugely interesting section of the exhibitions, where visitors can see how rural Ireland was often portrayed in a simplistic and romantic way. The reality, however, was very different.
For most, it was a life of hard toil. Disease was rife, diet was poor and survival was very much dependant on a detailed knowledge of the landscape and environment, craft, skill and ingenuity. This way of life changed little over many hundreds of years and its continuity is evident in the similarities between recently-made objects and their counterparts made long ago.
Romance and Reality also highlights the contrasts between folklife and folklore. It shows that folklife deals with objects, the skills needed to produce them and their place in the lives of the people; while folklore deals with stories, myths and traditional beliefs outside formal religion.
Opening hours
Admission to the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life, Turlough Park House and Gardens is free. The exhibition galleries are open Tuesday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday to Monday from 1 to 5 p.m.