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Photo: William Murphy, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The "Dead Zoo" contains a comprehensive zoological collection presented in a manner unchanged since its establishment in Victorian times.
The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History, sometimes called the Dead Zoo, a branch of the National Museum of Ireland, is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland. The museum was built in 1856 for parts of the collection of the Royal Dublin Society and the building and collection were later passed to the State.
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Amazing display of Ireland's artefacts from prehistory through the Viking era to independence. The standout is the Treasury (with the 12th century Ardagh Chalice and 9th century Tara Brooch), and the prehistoric jewellery: gold and silver beautifully worked and carved.
Impressive national collection of Irish and European Art. In January the gallery displays its watercolours by JMW Turner; the original donor specified that they had to be kept out of the light for the rest of the year.
Their main building on St Stephen's Green is closed for renovation, so this is a temporary home. It displays the 20th-century social, cultural and political history of Dublin city, with many artefacts donated by Dubliners. Visit by guided tour every hour.
Trinity College is the fine Georgian campus of the University of Dublin. It's generally open to stroll around in daylight hours, but it is a working university, and most interiors are off-limits to tourists. You can visit the Chapel near the front (west) gate of the College. But the big attraction is the Old Library and Book of Kells. Book online, otherwise buy your ticket from the machines under the Lecky library just south. This is for a timed slot, and at weekends may be booked out. You enter an exhibition hall setting the Book in the context of other monastic writings of its period, circa 800 AD. Next enter the display area: only two pages are displayed at any time, one being richly illustrated with little text (or no text, on the "carpet" pages), and one page being text of the Vulgate Gospels, written in Insular Majuscule Latin. But it's difficult to enjoy, with crowds jostling round the display case. Next, go upstairs into the massive Long Hall of the library, with books and ladders and more books and ladders towering away upwards. No books are accessible to the public. Last but not least, exit through the gift shop, which can be entered without a ticket.
Founded in 1871 so this is the oldest continually operating theatre in Dublin. It hosts popular musical shows, opera, ballet, dance and drama.
This offers classical concerts. Frequent performances by the resident orchestra, the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. The main auditorium seats 1200 and there are three smaller spaces. It was built in 1865 for a trade fair then became an entertainment venue then the core of University College Dublin. It became a concert hall from 1981 when UCD moved to the Belfield campus.