Dublin Museums

    A trip to the Dublin Museums

            It was such a nice treat to be able to spend a day in the centre of Dublin and to be able to get a chance to visit museums that even though are so close to us we actually never find the time to visit. Our form classes all split up and it was actually really great to be able to spend the day chatting just to people in my form and I think we all found ourselves bonding as a form class. In the morning we were given the freedom to do a bit of shopping and go for a coffee on  Grafton Street and we all had fun browsing the shops and some of us grabbed a hot chocolate from Butlers (you can’t beat their hot chocolate!!). 

          Mid-morning we headed off to the National Gallery of Ireland in Merrion Square West. Although I am not very interested in art, I surprisingly found myself enthralled by the beautiful gallery and magnificent paintings that surrounded us. I think my sense of awe was definitely enhanced by our fantastic guide Valerie who's passion for the paintings and the artists themselves helped us to become really interested in all the art shown. We got up close and personal with Caravaggio’s The taking of Christ and Valerie explained different features of Caravaggio’s work. It was magnificent to see such a famous and brilliant piece of work and it was very funny when Ms. Ni Mhairtin touched one of the paintings and nearly made the alarm system go off. We were nearly crying with laughter! We also got to see Monet’s Basin with a Single Sail Boat which was beautiful and so perfect until we learnt from Valerie that this perfect painting had actually been vandalised in 2014. The first thought that ran through my head was how could someone damage this amazing painting in any shape or form. As I am quite interested in criminal law and court cases I asked Valerie to explain what happened and I was told the story and all about his trial and he got prosecuted with 6 years in prison. It was fascinating to hear about this case and the damaging of the painting. 

               After the National Gallery of Ireland, we all split up for lunch and myself and a few of the girls went to Wagamama’s for lunch. When lunch was over, our form met back at The National History Museum beside the Dail. RTE was even there to greet us when we arrived, only joking! They were just awaiting some TD’s coming out of the dail but all the same it was a nice thought to be famous for a minute! We walked around the museum for about an hour and as I am doing history for the Leaving Cert I found it very interesting to look at some of the artefacts and I even got to see the Ardagh Chalice, The Tara Broach and a lunalae. Seeing these artefacts in a history book compared to in real life is no comparison and it was great to be able to see them so closely. 

             Overall, it was a good day and it was really great to be given independence and trust on the day out. I learnt so much about art and history so it was a really worthwhile trip.