Glasnevin Cemetery and Museum

Museum admission: €6.50/adult, €4.50/child (<16 years), €4.50/student (with student ID), €4.50/senior (60+)
Tour: €13/adult, €10/child (<16 years), €10/student (with student ID), €10/senior (60+)

This is the place to come if you’re seeking to trace any Dublin-based ancestors: 1.5 million people are buried here – that’s equal to over 30% of the country’s population! As well as generations of locals are some of the biggest names in Irish history: Michael Collins, Constance Markievicz, Brendan Behan, Maud Gonne, Gerard Manley Hopkins and Eamonn de Valera have all been laid to rest within these walls. Their stories and more are told in the cemetery museum, where you can also grab a bite to eat.

National Museum of Ireland

Admission: free

Split between Kildare Street’s Museum of Archaeology, Merrion Street’s Museum of Natural History and the Collins Barracks Museum of Decorative Art and History (as well as the Museum of Country Life in County Mayo), the National Museum network is a vibrant collection of authentic history. Open year round, apart from Christmas Day and Good Friday, any of the three in Dublin’s city centre are well worth the trip.

The Little Museum of Dublin

Admission: €10/adult, €8/student & senior

The Little Museum is a little different to most: established in 2011, it tells the story of Dublin throughout the 20th century, from women’s rights to U2, aviation and a whole lot in between. The whole museum occupies just two rooms of an 18th-century Georgian townhouse at St Stephen’s Green; but while it might be little, it has a lot to offer.

Kilmainham Gaol

Admission: €8/adult, €4/teenager (12-17 years), €4/student (18+, with student ID), €6/senior (60+)

After opening in 1796 as Dublin’s county gaol, Kilmainham went on to become the setting for some of the most significant moments in Ireland’s history. Leaders of many rebellions, including the 1916 Rising, were detained and executed here; and countless convicts were imprisoned within these walls before their exile to Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, it has been restored as a museum that hosts exhibitions and welcomes thousands of visitors each year.

EPIC – The Irish Emigration Museum

Admission: €15/adult, €7.50/teenager (6-15 years), €13/student (16+, with student ID; €8 student discount on Tuesdays), €10/senior (65+, rate applicable Wednesdays only)

EPIC tells the stories of some of the 10 million people who have emigrated from Ireland, through the Famine, exile and the pursuit of a better life. The museum is also home to the Irish Family History Centre, where you can trace your own genealogy and build your family tree.

National Library of Ireland

Admission: free

Our National Library is the centre for the recorded history of Ireland, housing more than ten million books, manuscripts, newspapers, photographs, prints, maps, drawings, ephemera, music and digital media. It also offers a free genealogy advisory service and hosts many exhibitions and events, including the permanent Yeats exhibition.

The Chester Beatty Library

Admission: free

After your first visit to the CBL museum, it should come as no surprise that this is the only one in Ireland to have ever been named ‘European Museum of the Year’. Opened in 1950, part of what’s most awe-inspiring about this place is that it was established to house the collections of a single, globetrotting figure: Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. Today, the museum is home to one of the finest collection of manuscripts and books ever held by a private collector, spanning literary works of Western, East Asian and Islamic significance, as well as a variety of temporary exhibitions.

Dublinia

Admission: €10/adult, €6.50/child, €9/student/senior

For anyone curious about Dublin’s Viking and medieval past, Dublinia is the dream. Set in Christ Church – the epicentre of medieval Dublin – and filled with interactive exhibitions, re-imagined Viking warships, medieval skeletons and an ancient tower with a bird’s-eye over the city, a visit here means a true trip back in history.

14 Henrietta Street

Admission: €9/adult, €6/child (5-18 years), €6/student (18+, with student ID), €6/senior (60+)

Dublin’s tenement history is writ large throughout much of our literature; but although the city is covered with countless magnificent Georgian houses, not many examples remain to show how those that had degenerated into slums by the 20th century actually looked at the time. 14 Henrietta Street is a time capsule of a way of life from the recent past that is unrecognisable compared to the Fair City as most people know it today. Well worth a visit.

Richmond Barracks

Admission: €8/adult, €5/child/student/senior

Perhaps the most famous event to ever take place in Ireland, the 1916 Rising echoes throughout so many of Dublin’s main attractions – and Richmond Barracks is no exception. 3,000 revolutionaries from that time were held right here, including most of the signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and 77 key female rebels.

View more museums on VisitDublin.com