Heritage centres

The best way to understand Ireland’s rich cultural, political, geographical and social history is through one of the country’s many outstanding heritage centres, and the following are just a sample of what’s on offer…

Don't miss...

• Cobh –  The Queenstown Story is a fascinating multi-media exhibition, which retraces the steps of the two-and-a-half million people who emigrated from the port of Cobh in Cork. Incidentally, this was also the last port of call for the ill-fated Titanic and Lusitania. 

•Dublinia brings the capital’s turbulent history to life and allows visitors to step right back to medieval Dublin.

•The Ulster American Folk Park, County Tyrone, is an open-air museum telling the story of emigration from Ulster to America in the 18th and 19th Centuries and provides visitors with a "living history" experience on its outdoor site. Costumed demonstrators go about their everyday tasks in the traditional manner in authentically furnished Old and New World buildings.

•The Brú Ború Theatre at the foot of the Rock of Cashel is a celebration of native Irish song, dance, music, theatre and Celtic studies. 

•St Patrick’s Trian is an exciting visitor complex located in the heart of Armagh City and incorporates three major exhibitions: The Armagh Story: traces Armagh’s historic Pagan monuments through to the coming of Saint Patrick to the modern day city; Patrick’s Testament: takes a closer look at our patron Saint; The Land of Lilliput: Jonathan Swift’s most famous book, “Gulliver’s Travels” is narrated by a 20-ft giant.

•Craggaunowen –  The Living Past in Clare tells the story of the arrival of the Celts to Ireland and shows how they lived, worked and died.

•The Famine Museum  at Strokestown Park, County Roscommon, is housed within a wonderful 18th-century Palladian house and is regarded as the single best, private archive on the Great Irish Famine in the world. 

•The Somme Heritage Centre in Newtownards, Co. Down examines Ireland’s role in the first world war and includes a “time-tunnel” to take you back to Ireland in the 1910s, as well as a “dug-out” explaining about life in the trenches plus a front-line trench from which visitors can look out over ‘No Man’s Land’. 

•The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Belfast illustrates the way of life and the traditions of the people of the North of Ireland. The award-winning galleries of the Transport Museum display Ireland’s most comprehensive transport collections from horse-drawn carts to Irish built motor cars.

For more information on castles and other heritage sites throughout Ireland including maps, call 0800 039 7000 and request your FREE copy of 'Heritage Sites of Ireland.'