A National Treasure House

New Zealand Tablet, Volume L, Issue 29, 26 July 1923, Page 15

A National Treasure House

(By J ✓J. Buckley, j M.R.I.A;, Acting Director of the National Museum, in the Dublin Freeman’s Journal.)

. In the National Museum/ Kildare Street, Dublin obsesses a treasure-house which is invaluable as a tonic to strengthen the Nation’s self-respect. When one feels despondent at the destruction of works of art, and hears foreigners question the mental capacity of our fellowcountrymen and their standard of civilisation it is well to be able to turn somewhere to find evidences of the high culture and refinement of the race. These evidences we have in abundance in the National Museum. The treasures of art in gold; silver, and bronze in the magnificent collection formed by the Royal Irish Academy and entrusted to the keeping of the Museum are the wonder of all foreign visitors. Some years ago a distinguished foreign visitor on examining some of these specimens, with their chaste and wonderfully intricate ornamentation, asked were they really the work of Irish artists. He was shown the proofs, including, the inscription in Irish on x the Cross of Cong asking for prayers for the artist who made it, and he at once acknowledged the genius of the race that produced such artists. Hundreds of other visitors have come to admire these treasures, and all have gone away with enhanced respect for the Nation which produced them. Foreign Interest Irish Neglect. Indeed, the interest of foreign visitors in these relics of Ireland’s greatness is in marked contrast to the indifference of our own people. It must be admitted that relatively few of the people of Dublin, old or young, not to speak of the people of the provinces, evince any interest in those treasures, which if they belonged to many another nation would have their merits truntpeted over the earth. Not so with foreign visitors. The Museum Photographic Department is kept fully occupied preparing prints of the objects in this collection demanded by students of early Irish art in all parts of Europe and the United States; whilst facsimiles in metal, made by Edmond Johnson, of Grafton Street, have been sent to several museums on the Continent and to many of the provincial museums in Britain. The facsimiles mostly in demand are those of the Tara Brooch, the Arclagh

Chalice, the Cross of Cong, and the Shrine of the Bell of St. Patrick, all 9th and 12th century native Irish work, as well as the very much earlier gold torques, minus,''gorgets; and fibulae.. / ■ I ' , The beautifully illustrated guide to the Celtic antiquities by the late George Coffey, Keeper of .the. Irish Antiquities Division, and the catalogue of the gold ornaments, by

his successor, the late E. C. R. Armstrong, have been asked for by archaeologists all over the world. The reproach, “incuriosi suornm”, may,.. indeed, be truly applied to us. Many of the objects in this collection, the product of Irish brains and hands, ought to make us proud to call ourselves Irishmen, and foreign visitors sometimes marvel at the neglect with which these beautiful national relics are treated by us. Dublin Products, Besides this priceless collection there are others of great interest and importance. For instance, the silver plate, the cut glass, the furniture, all 18th century Irish products—chiefly Dublin, of course.

The general archaeology is reresented by a very good Egyptian collection and a highly educative Greek collection. The latter owes its importance to the addition lately , of a very valuable collection of painted vases — black and red figure. These were obtained chiefly owing to the energy and enthusiasm of the late Professor of Greek in University College, Rev. Henry Browne, S.J. The Ethnographical collection is a very important one, the nucleus having been formed by objects brought from the South Pacific by Irishmen who accompanied Captain Cook on some of his voyages towards the end of the 18th century. It has grown steadily owing to the interest in it displayed by Irish travellers ever since. The latest acquisitionone of outstanding importance—is a collection, added early this year, which was made by the son of an eminent Irish scholar, the late Major Mahaffy, during a long residence in one of the South Pacific Islands. Growth of the Museum. The rapid growth of the Museum idea in the latter half of the last century has resulted in specialisation, and now there are more than a dozen different classes of museum, each performing functions peculiar to itself. A somewhat arbitrary enumeration of the subjects to which they are devoted is as . follows: —1, Ethnography, e.g., the PittRivers Museum, Cambridge, and the Dresden Ethnographical Museum; 2, General Archaeology, e.g., the British Museum ; 3 National or Local Archaeology, e.g., the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy (now incorporated in the National Museum); 4, National, or Local History, e.g., the Carnavalet Museum, Paris; 5, Decorative or Applied Art, e-g., the Victoria and Albert Museum; 6, Fine Art (Painting and Sculpture), Historic, e.g., our own National Gallery; 7, Fine Art, Contemporary, e.g., the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Harcourt Street; 8, Local Industry, e.g., the Landesgewerbe Museum,-. Stuttgart, and the Dublin Industrial Development Exhibit in O’Connell Street; 9, Technology, e.g., the Science. Museum, South Kensington. Besides these there are others more highly specialised and more restricted in their scope, such as the Postal Museum (Berlin), the Museum of Casts of Sculpture; (Stuttgart and Paris—Trocadero), Anatomical Museums, etc. \ So comprehensive is the scope of the Dublin Museum that, with the - exception of-three or four, it illustrates

more or less completely all the subjects enumerated above. Numbers 6 and 7 are illustrated very efficiently by the National Gallery and the Municipal Gallery. Since the dispersal of the collections in the galleries of the old Royal Colege of Science, .St. Stephen’s Green, some 25 years ago, Technology has hot been illustrated in r Dublin, if we leave out of consideration a few working models of looms still on exhibition in the annex of the National Museum, and a few models of steam engines and other machinery removed thence a few years ago to make room for some industrial exhibits of - a different character. Educative Influence. The visitors to the National Museum number, per annum, some 300,000 more or less. They include a very moderate proportion of Dublin citizens and a large number of visitors to the city. Of the latter quite a good number are from abroad. This does not necessarily constitute a reflection on the citizens of Dublin, however much it may be regretted. It is probable that similar conditions obtain in all large cities. A visit to the British Museum, for instance, or the Victoria and Albert Museum, or the London National Gallery, will convince one that but a small proportion of the crowds eagerly viewing the objects displayed in those treasure houses are Londoners. The question of increasing the educative influence of 'Museums has been under discussion for many years. The “docent” system, first adopted in the United States, has been in existence in some of the London museums for some years. Under it persons are appointed to lecture in the Museum apartments in the presence of the specimens at fixed hours each day. The results, however, do not appear to justify the expectations that were entertained of it when it was established. The expense involved in the working of a really sufficient decent service is prohibitive except for very richly endowed museums. , For this reason it does not exist in Dublin. True, some twenty years ago it. was tried here in a very modified f*rm, and was continued for a few years, with the aid of voluntary workers — of the staff for the most part, but supplemented by a few outside specialists. The ■ lectures were given in the museum rooms, amongst the

specimens, in the afternoons, once or twice a week, and attracted a limited number of leisured people; but they were eventually discontinued, as it was considered that . the results were not commensurate with the time and trouble, expended in their preparation. Later on the experiment . of lantern lectures at some branches of art or archaeology I and natural history, alternately, on Tuesday evenings at *,B o’clock was initiated.. These lectures were given in a small hall with a seating capacity of about 150, and they attracted audiences which generally filled the hall, often to overflowing. The experiment was apparently successful, but, unfortunately, it was interrupted by the demolition of the lecture hall to make room for development in connection with the new College of Science buildings.

The Fauna of Ireland. J ‘. Within the limits of a paper such as this it would not be possible to describe all the important features of the Museum Collections. The fauna of Ireland, gathered together in one large hall, has been described in a booklet just issued, the work of the late Keeper of the Natural

History Division, Dr. R. F. Scharff. Students of our native language will be glad to learn that he has spared no trouble to obtain, whenever possible, the v Irish name of each animal in the collection. The Botanical Section is of high educational value, and the same may he said of the mineralogical, geological, and palaeontological collections. It is hoped that the comparatively trifling sum necessary for the development of these valuable collections may be forthcoming when wo seriously turn to' the development of our country.