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Irish Diaspora Museum to open in Dublin May 2016

  • 13-01-2016 7:20pm
    #1
    pedroeibar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,108 ✭✭✭


    Interesting development. They are seeking personal stories about people who left Ireland and went on to do something unique, unexpected or surprising. .................. looking for as diverse a range of gender, ages and accents as possible.............Suitable participants will be asked to partake in media interviews (including photography) that will subsequently be broadcast via one or more media, including print, online and broadcast.

    Full details here

    I wonder is there enough cop to move the GRO there??


Comments

  • #2
    pinkypinky
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,614 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Eneclann has some involvement with this.

    http://www.irishtimes.com/business/companies/isdell-assembles-advisory-group-for-chq-tourism-project-1.2126400

    Genealogy Forum Mod



  • #3
    pedroeibar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,108 ✭✭✭pedroeibar1


    Thanks Pinky, I missed that news and nor was I aware it was a commercial venture. It looks like an interesting development. Hopefully with a project team of that quality it will be historically accurate and not paddywhackery!


  • #4
    pedroeibar1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,108 ✭✭✭pedroeibar1


    I got my hands on an invite to attend the official opening today. Nice speech by Mary Robinson.

    It’s a very impressive operation, very well put together with a heavy genealogy/history focus. I believe the ‘diaspora’ visitors will love it.

    The exhibition space is huge, in the vaults of the CHQ (they are worth a visit in their own right!). It is laid out like IKEA, where you thread through various sections, each of which is filled with photo montages, audio visual presentations and interactive screens. The whole thing is very touchy-feely. At the outset you are given a ‘passport’ and as you pass through each section you can put it in a slot to get a passport stamp. (Gimicky, fiddly and will cause queues when busy, don't bother). I discovered later thatthe passport actually was a map, but it was too dim to note that in the exhibition (lighting, not me!).

    Passing through the sections was a little bit like being in a video version of the book “How the Irish Saved Civilization’ but not too triumphalist. A few examples of the sections - Leaving the Island, Arriving in the New World, Religion, Famines, Conflicts, Inventions, Sportspeople, Writers, Designers, Music, Sports,etc. Military, Convicts, etc. Many more. At the end of the tour (unguided, do it at your own pace) you arrive in the shop (typical of museums & art galleries, with souvenir stuff, not untasteful) and a sizeable space for the” Irish Family History Centre”.

    The latter appears to be an identity (new?) for Find My Past, was fully staffed and had banks of terminals linked online to the FMP database with several people being helped at screens. Not sure if this will be the case henceforth or if it will be self-service and free.

    The exhibition/museum is a commercial venture, entry is €16 adult, 14 for seniors/students, 40 for family (2+2). I had a time constraint so did not spend much time there, in an hour or so I did not see everything but I will go back, to explore some of the interactive stuff in more detail. It's entertainment (which it is supposed to be) rather than genealogy how-to, which lies with the FMP people outside. Glad I went.


  • #5
    pinkypinky
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,614 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    Thanks for that report, Pedro.

    The website suggests that it's even more to use the genealogy services:
    https://www.irishfamilyhistorycentre.com/visit

    Very ambitious opening hours. I wonder how many extra people they've hired. The entire Eneclann team is working in the new venue too.
    Also, lots of typos on the site...

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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