This people’s museum is crammed with curios donated by Dublin residents. A major facelift has added a library, archive and exhibition on ‘fearless women’
T
here are certain museums around the world that go beyond their role of housing artefacts and somehow seem to act as portals to the past. The Frick Collection in New York and Marcel Proust’s cork-lined bedroom at the Musée Carnavalet in Paris both hum with a timeless energy that transcends the exhibits on display. The Little Museum of Dublin is also such a space.
Within seconds of ascending the stairs of this beautiful four-storey Georgian townhouse at 15 St Stephen’s Green, a different era appears to take hold. The modern world disappears and I imagine myself back in Georgian times, when this red-bricked terrace was built along with so many of the beautiful squares and parks throughout the city centre.
Dubliner Trevor White persuaded Dublin city council to lend him this building back in 2011 to open the first museum in the city dedicated to all things Dublin. Armed with a great idea and no collection, he took to the airwaves and asked the listeners of the beloved Marian Finucane show on RTÉ (Ireland’s national broadcaster) to trawl through their attics and cupboards for one-of-a-kind curiosities and mementoes relating to the Irish capital.
