National Museum of Archaeology and History Dublin
Be spirited away to ancient Ireland by visiting the fantastic National Museum of Archaeology and History. This impressive museum houses over 2 million artifacts, dating from 7000BC to the present. The museum opened in 1890, and has grown extensively ever since. The building itself is a feast for the eyes, with its mosaic floors, intricate door panels, and giant classic columns made from Irish marble. The excellent prehistoric Ireland exhibition details the lives of the first human settlements in Ireland in around 7000BC to the Bronze Age, around 500BC. Here you can see primitive stone tools, pottery and personal objects as well as copper axes, daggers, caldrons and shields, as well as intricate jewelry crafted of amber, stone and glass.

The Viking Age gallery is fascinating, tracing the first contacts of the Vikings and Ireland in the 9th and 10th centuries. On display here are various finds of excavations done between 1962 and 1981, including metalwork and ornaments.

One of the largest and most important collections of prehistoric gold work in Europe is located here in the Ireland's Gold exhibition, with exquisite examples of jewelry and dress ornaments on display.

To gain a better insight to Ireland's more recent history, visit the Road to Independence Gallery. This gallery traces the fight for Irish Independence through photographs, uniforms, guns and personal memorabilia.

For a break from Irish history, make your way to the stunning Ancient Egypt Gallery. This amazing collection includes over 3000 priceless artifacts from Egyptian excavations carried out between 1890 and 1920 in various parts of Egypt. The most beautiful of these is the cartonnage case of the mummy Tentdinebu, c. 945-716 BC.

There are also numerous temporary exhibits that grace the halls of National Museum of Archaeology and History, so be sure to visit these as well.

Website www.museum.ie/archaeology/