Wax museum building, Dublin

newmug

Does anyone know what the history is of the building where the wax museum is in Dublin? The one adjacent to the Bank Of Ireland building. Its a fabulous building, but the basement intrigued me. Theres 6 or 7 "vaults", with massive old safe doors being used as part of the wax museum tour. What were these vaults used for? Was it part of the bank? I was just as impressed with the massive doors as I was with the wax works!!!

CyberJuice

ive never been in there,. does the tour lasst for long and how much did it cost you

Lapin

It used to be The Armoury.

newmug

CyberJuice wrote: »

ive never been in there,. does the tour lasst for long and how much did it cost you

Its not a "guided" tour, you just wander round at your own speed. Took us about an hour and a half. Its E12 for an adult, or E32 for 2 adults, 2 kids (I think!)

Lapin wrote: »

It used to be The Armoury.

Cheers Lapin. Armoury for what, the brits? Was there a barracks nearby?

d3exile

newmug wrote: »

CyberJuice wrote: »

ive never been in there,. does the tour lasst for long and how much did it cost you

Its not a "guided" tour, you just wander round at your own speed. Took us about an hour and a half. Its E12 for an adult, or E32 for 2 adults, 2 kids (I think!)

Lapin wrote: »

It used to be The Armoury.

Cheers Lapin. Armoury for what, the brits? Was there a barracks nearby?

The building that is now the Bank of Ireland used to be the House of Parliment when the British were here, I'd imagine there was a contingent of troops based there for its protection, as there is in the Dáil... Presumably it was their armoury?

BeerNut

d3exile wrote: »

The building that is now the Bank of Ireland used to be the House of Parliment when the British were here, I'd imagine there was a contingent of troops based there for its protection

According to Christine Casey the Armoury was built in 1808-11, so seven years after the building stopped being the Parliament House. I'd guess it was built by and for the bank -- presumably they had their own armed security staff for protecting the bank and cash in transit.

d3exile

BeerNut wrote: »

d3exile wrote: »

The building that is now the Bank of Ireland used to be the House of Parliment when the British were here, I'd imagine there was a contingent of troops based there for its protection

According to Christine Casey the Armoury was built in 1808-11, so seven years after the building stopped being the Parliament House. I'd guess it was built by and for the bank -- presumably they had their own armed security staff for protecting the bank and cash in transit.

Ah my mistake so, my history isn't what it used to be

billyhead

newmug wrote: »

Its not a "guided" tour, you just wander round at your own speed. Took us about an hour and a half. Its E12 for an adult, or E32 for 2 adults, 2 kids (I think!)




Cheers Lapin. Armoury for what, the brits? Was there a barracks nearby?

Was it any good and worth the admittance price?

mysteries1984

I didn't think it was worth the trip in there, personally.

OP, when I was there there were signs on the doors to the vaults explaining what they were

newmug

billyhead wrote: »

Was it any good and worth the admittance price?

Ah yea it was. For E12, thats 3 pints in Meath, 2 in Dublin, you cant get much better value than that.

CyberJuice

What kind of wax people do they have,is it old irish people or is it celebrities from around the world??

also can u have a drink in the place or is it just walk around then get out..

mysteries1984

CyberJuice wrote: »

What kind of wax people do they have,is it old irish people or is it celebrities from around the world??

also can u have a drink in the place or is it just walk around then get out..

A mix of both. Hannibal Lecter, The Simpsons, WB Yeats etc. It's mostly Irish stuff around the vaults until a big room at the end (the Great/Grand Hall or something like that) and it's got Freddy Krueger (who for some reason is there and not in the Chamber of Horrors, I've just realised), Madonna etc. Some of this is pretty dated though - Madonna looks like she did in the 80s, as an example.

It's walk around, play with some interactive stuff, go to the gift shop, then get out, AFAIK. Chamber of Horrors is probably the best part.

newmug

CyberJuice wrote: »

What kind of wax people do they have,is it old irish people or is it celebrities from around the world??

also can u have a drink in the place or is it just walk around then get out..

Its kinda done in floor levels. In the basement its all Irish. So there's Fionn McCool, the vikings, cromwell, Micheal Collins etc. That is all in these vaults that I'm inquiring about.

Then there's kids stuff on the next level, hellokitty, the simpsons, a tunnel to crawl through, also there's science stuff with an impressively long list of Irish connections, but not much wax dummies.

Then on the next level there's celebrities, Jack Charlton, gerry ryan, etc., there's a place you can make a music video and put yourself in it, a mock-up of a recording studio aswell.

There's the chamber of horrors too, I forget where that slotted in. Its small, but worth a look.

And at the very end of it all, you come into a room with bono, Micheal Jackson, Elvis, Liam Neeson, and a few others.

No bar in it, so no drink. There's a souvenir shop and a Spar deli with a few chairs to sit down and eat.

Not mindblowing by any stretch of the imagination, but for 12 quid, I could spend that on 3 pints in my local (which I do, EVERY weekend), or I could spend it on a nicely entertaining afternoon in the Wax Museum, which I was only at once before in my entire life, and prob wont visit again for another few years.

imme

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/picturesoftheday/6272047/Pictures-of-the-day-8-October-2009.html?image=2

The Scientician

Do they have all the mad old stock from the old museum? Some of that was priceless. Phil Lynnott etc. in the '80s.

newmug

The Scientician wrote: »

Do they have all the mad old stock from the old museum? Some of that was priceless. Phil Lynnott etc. in the '80s.

Yep, he was there. So was Pat Ingollsby.

CyberJuice

I might go check it out next week, are you allowed to take pictures in there posing beside the statues?? if its not allowed i probly wouldnt bother goin

chasm

CyberJuice wrote: »

I might go check it out next week, are you allowed to take pictures in there posing beside the statues?? if its not allowed i probly wouldnt bother goin

Yes you can take photos, everyone i saw was taking pics. I can't say i was overly impressed with the waxworks myself, some were very good but i felt some were just a passing resemblance of who they were supposed to be.

Having said that it was worth the money as far as my nephews were concerned because they got their photo taken with James Bond Lol Didn't go into the chamber of horrors though as the youngest nephew wasnt overly comfortable around some of the waxworks -probably because we went into the room with Yeats/Wilde/Behan etc first and as he didnt know who they were he was a bit uneasy to start with (He's only 6 lol).

petethebrick

Meaning to check this place out also. have they recreated the tunnels that they had in the old place?? Used to love climbing through those in the dark when I was a kid (even at the age of 19 )

mysteries1984

petethebrick wrote: »

Meaning to check this place out also. have they recreated the tunnels that they had in the old place?? Used to love climbing through those in the dark when I was a kid (even at the age of 19 )

I was never in the old place but there is a sort of crawl space tunnel in the kids section...it's not very long, but it sounds like what you're looking for

petethebrick

mysteries1984 wrote: »

I was never in the old place but there is a sort of crawl space tunnel in the kids section...it's not very long, but it sounds like what you're looking for

Excellent! I might get a few weird looks crawling into now as a 30 year old though I'm guessing

newmug

petethebrick wrote: »

Excellent! I might get a few weird looks crawling into now as a 30 year old though I'm guessing

Nah you wont. I went through it and I'm 30 aswell.... Twice.

The Scientician

newmug wrote: »

Nah you wont. I went through it and I'm 30 aswell.... Twice.

You're 60? I loved the crawly tunnels in the old place and the room at the odd angle. I also loved how the Simpsons display played "Do The Bartman" on a loop for about a decade. The poor staff in the gift shop!

DH90

The Scientician wrote: »

Do they have all the mad old stock from the old museum? Some of that was priceless. Phil Lynnott etc. in the '80s.

I'm sorry, were you looking for the modern day Phil Lynott??? Surely they couldn't possibly have the Phil Lynott from the 80's.......

Dutch82

Visited the place a year ago, the basement with the Silence of the Lamb scene scared me ****tless.
Go on and see for yourself