National Museum of Ireland – Natural History, Dublin

The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History, a branch of the National Museum of Ireland, is located in historic Merrion Square in Dublin. The museum was built in 1856 by the Royal Dublin Society. However, the museum’s zoological collection and its building have changed little since Victorian times, and it is sometimes described as a “museum of a museum” or a “stately home of death”. The building condition is deteriorating, and the top two floors of the museum have been closed to the public for over a decade since an ornate stairway collapsed in 2007. The National Museum of Ireland, in partnership with the Office of Public Works (OPW), is working to change the museum’s ‘dead zoo’ image through a major redevelopment project. In 2016, Jura Consultants were commissioned alongside Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios to research and prepare a master plan for renovation works. The museum was closed for two years for renovations, with the ground floor reopening in August 2022. In January 2023, the Irish Ministry of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media announced funding for a further and more significant phase of restoration that will improve the visitor experience. The redevelopment is a flagship project in the Irish National Development Plan. The key aims of the project phase are to address long-standing accessibility issues, enhance the visitor experience, conserve the historic building fabric and showcase the unique heritage building. The detailed design phase commenced in 2023, and the OPW issued a tender for Architect-Led Integrated Design Team Services. The tender outlined plans to conserve and restore the building’s roof, ground and 1st floors, and 2nd and 3rd-floor balconies to its original staircase and landings, as well as to spaces within its small rear annexe, which adjoins the rear of the Leinster House complex. Also planned were fabric upgrades, a structural upgrade, strengthening works, new mechanical, lift and electrical installations, fire upgrade works including fire stopping, a new fire suppression system, remedial works to the ground floor slab, and some internal reconfigurations for accessibility and accommodation requirements. In June 2024, it was announced architects Fitzgerald Kavanagh & Partners had been appointed by the Commissioners of Public Works to lead the integrated design team for the refurbishment project. From September 2024, the NMI – Natural History will be fully closed to the public, while collections are put into temporary storage. For the period of closure, a new ‘Dead Zoo Lab’ will be created in the Riding School at the National Museum of Ireland Collins Barracks site from Spring 2025. The phase will include investigative works and development of the design and planning for the extensive conservation and refurbishment works, once completed will determine the full programme of works, duration and total cost of the project. MI’s opening date and budget are currently estimated. (Updated 20 June 2024)