This summer, discover Ireland's rich heritage and vibrant culture at the National Museum of Ireland. We are delighted to announce our extensive programme of free tours, workshops, and trails, offering engaging activities for all ages to enjoy across our three museum sites in Dublin and Mayo.
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore, learn, and be inspired by Ireland’s fascinating history and heritage.
Admission is free | Summer 2026
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
.jpg)
13:00 & 16:00 | Sunday 16 August | All Ages | Admission Free | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
As part of National Heritage Week, this special event brings together three exceptional craftspeople whose work connects past, present, and future. Through live demonstrations, visitors are invited to explore the skills, stories, and materials that form the foundation of rural Irish life. These crafts speak to sustainability, community, and identity, while also highlighting traditions that must be protected and passed on.
15:00 & 16:00 | Sunday 23 August | All Ages | Admission Free | Booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
Join Irish Folklife curator Tiernan Gaffney to learn about the history of traditional craftspeople in Ireland and the communities that once depended on them. This talk explores the artefacts and memories tied to traditional Irish skills and their quiet fading from everyday life. Learn how the museum is preserving these crafts and supporting the makers keeping these skills alive today.
All Heritage Week Events at Turlough Park
14:00 & 15:00 | Every Saturday 2026 | All Ages | Admission Free | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
Take a tour and learn about key objects and stories in the Museum galleries, then discover more about the life of the Fitzgerald family and the history and architectural style of Turlough Park House and Gardens.
Available during Museum opening hours | Summer 2026 | Families | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
There are five new and challenging orienteering courses to explore on the grounds of Turlough Park. Visit the Museum Galleries to pick up a map and download the MapRun app to track your progress.
Available during Museum opening hours | Summer 2026 | Families | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
Pick up a ‘Woodland Explorer’ activity booklet from Museum reception to explore a self-guided nature trail through the grounds of Turlough Park.
Available during Museum opening hours | Summer 2026 | Families | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
Peadar is a Pygmy Shrew who lives at the Museum with his seven friends. Can you find their hiding spots in the Museum galleries using our fun, self-guided activity sheet?
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Selected dates and times throughout August 2026 | Families | Free Admission | No booking required
Dead Zoo Lab, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7
Explore all things natural this summer at the Dead Zoo Lab! Drop into the Discovery Zone in the Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks and and explore the nature of Ireland. Bring the family along and join a short activity to learn more about the wildlife on Ireland’s beaches.
Selected dates and times throughout August 2026 | Families | Free Admission | No booking required
Dead Zoo Lab, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7
Animal Lottery Family tours are free to visitors to the Dead Zoo Lab and last about 30 minutes. Stops and topics on the tour are decided by pulling animal names from the lottery bag.
Selected dates and times throughout August 2026 | All Ages | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
As the weather warms, get your weekly dose of history at Collins Barracks this August! Discover something new on our diverse range of free public tours.
Selected dates throughout August | All Ages | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Explore the new Changing Ireland Galleries and encounter the everyday or extraordinary objects that witnessed or contributed to the transformation of Ireland over the last 150 years.
13:00 - 13:45 | Sunday 12 August 2026 | All Ages | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Enjoy a free lunchtime concert with the Army No. 1 Band at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. Bring a picnic and relax in Clarke Square as Ireland’s senior military band performs a lively mix of music in a fun, family-friendly setting. No booking required—just arrive and enjoy live music in a unique historic surroundings.
11:30 - 13:00 | Sunday 16 August 2026 | All Ages | Free Admission | Booking required
Dead Zoo Lab, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Join us for an exclusive and exciting opportunity to meet the author Peter Donnelly of much-loved books such as ‘The Dead Zoo’ and ‘The President’s Glasses’ at the Dead Zoo Lab in the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks from 11:30 - 1PM on Sunday, 16 August. The Dead Zoo Lab will be exclusively open for attendees of this event only before the Museum opens at its regular time of 1PM on a Sunday.
13:30 - 15:00 | Sunday 16 August 2026 | Families (children 5-13) | Free Admission | Booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
In this workshop, visual artist Mirjam Keune will explore Delftware in the collection and guide participants to design their own decorative pieces. Using paper, pencil and blue paint, you can recreate the look of traditional Delftware while adding your own creative touch. Will you be inspired by the original Chinese and Dutch designs, or will you give your Delftware a modern twist with images and patterns that are meaningful to you?
14:00 - 15:30 | Sunday 16 August 2026 | All Ages | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
For National Heritage Week, Clíona Doris and Clare McCague from Technological University Dublin present an illustrated talk on Ireland’s harp tradition in nineteenth-century Ireland, including performance of repertoire from the period.
Selected times & dates during Heritage Week | Family | Free Admission | No booking required
Dead Zoo Lab, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Drop-in events are located in the Discovery Zone in the open gallery of the Dead Zoo Lab. Each drop-in takes place over two hours and features a short activity that last 5-10 mins with a Museum Educator. Each activity is inspired by the natural history collections in the Museum. The short activity usually involves seeing and touching real and replica handling objects such as furs, bones or fossils. At the end of the activity, you can pick up a self-guided activity sheet and pencil to choose and draw your favourite animal on display in the Dead Zoo Lab. The theme for Heritage Week is ....the beach!
Selected times & dates during Heritage Week | Family | Free Admission | No booking required
Dead Zoo Lab, National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Join the Animal Lottery Tour, a fun and fast-paced 30 minute tour for families in the Dead Zoo Lab. The twist? Visitors decide the route! Pick an animal name from our lottery bag and join us as we journey to meet some of our favourite animals and fossils in the Dead Zoo Lab. No booking required.
All Heritage Week Events at Collins Barracks
11:00 - 12:30 | Tuesday 18 August 2026 | All Ages | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Join Museum Educators for Hands-on History, an interactive handling session with objects from the Museum’s handling collection. These are drop-in handling sessions in the Museum Reception area that can be expected to take from 5-15 minutes. Children must be fully supervised by a parent or adult who is in loco parentis.
National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Selected dates and times throughout August 2026 | All Ages | Free Admission | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Throughout the month of July, join a tour with a Museum guide for a free and engaging tour of the collection of the National Museum of Ireland Kildare Street about the Museum's archaeology collection.
Wednesday, 12 August | 11:00 - 13:00 | Families | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Drop into the Learning Resource Room and find out more about the lives of people in Early Medieval Ireland. During this handling workshop, discover replicas of jet crosses from Yorkshire, early medieval leather shoes, and brooches for cloaks and clothes. Learn about the coming of Christianity to Ireland, and the impact it had on Ireland.
Thursday, 13 August | 14:00 - 16:00 | Families | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Drop in to our Learning Resource Room to explore ogham script, the earliest form of writing found in Ireland, and learn all about ancient manuscript techniques. During this craft drop-in workshop, experience what it was like to be a scribe in early medieval Ireland by using vellum, a quill, and oak gall ink, to write your secret message in ogham on a mini bookmark to take home with you.
Sunday, 16 August | Families | No booking required
Woodstown Viking Heritage Festival, Woodstown, Co Waterford
This Heritage Week, the Archaeology Education and Outreach Team from the National Museum of Ireland at Kildare Street will be bringing the Viking Handling Collection down to Waterford to take part in the Áonach na nDéise - Woodstown Viking Heritage Festival. There, they will be joined by Déise Medieval, Waterford City and County Council, TVAS Archaeology, the Discovery Programme and Abarta Heritage for a fun filled Viking Day!
Wednesday, 29 August | 11:00 - 13:00 | Families | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Drop into the Learning Resource Room at the Museum and learn how to think like an archaeologist by solving our puzzle. Take a close look and handle each of our Viking replica artefacts. Figure out what they are, how they were used and what they are made from. Use the Viking Age Artefact Detective activity sheet to fill in all of the answers.
Thursday, 20 August | 14:00 - 16:00 | Families | No booking required
National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Explore the lives of Viking warriors and their swords at this drop-in workshop. Craft and decorate your own mini paper Viking sword and mark it with a secret message in Viking runes to take home with you.
All Heritage Week Events at Kildare Street
Top Exhibitions to see at the Museum this Summer 2026
-
Soapbox dreams in 1950s Ireland | National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
-
The Murmur of Bees | National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
-
Antique Veterinary Objects | National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
-
'Róidín' in the Courtyard Gallery | National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
-
Harry Clarke’s-Stained Glass | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
Beyond the Surface | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
A New Form of Beauty | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
The Weight of Words | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
Eva Lynch - Anthropoware | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
GAA: People, Objects & Stories | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
Glendalough: Power, Prayer and Pilgrimage | National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Plan your perfect day out at the National Museum of Ireland
-
Plan your perfect day out | National Museum of Ireland, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo
-
Plan your perfect day out | National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
-
Plan your perfect day out | National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin 2