Home News Latest News Revamped maritime museum to open next year

Revamped maritime museum to open next year

Tuesday, 01 December 2009

THE country's only maritime museum will open to the public in Dún Laoghaire next year with the help of additional funding from the Office of Public Works (OPW), it has emerged. The Mariner’s Church at Haigh Terrace is currently being transformed into a state-of-the art museum, library and heritage centre. The museum, with the aid of a e3.5million Government grant and private donations, is to be run on a commercial basis. Deputy Barry Andrews (FF) announced recently that the OPW was granting a further e350,000 to enable the current works at the museum to be completed. “This funding will ensure that the building at Haigh Terrace can be reopened to the public so the huge and valuable collection of maritime artefacts, paintings and books can be enjoyed by all,” said Deputy Andrews. According to Deputy Andrews, money would be spent on additional heating and climate control, external entrance steps and lifts, internal ramps, improved toilets and external lighting as well as display cabinets for the new tourist attraction. A maritime museum had been run on a voluntary basis at the site from the 1980s until late last year, when the church was bought and closed to allow the e6 million restoration project to begin. Many original features of the church remain, including a massive collection of maritime art and a 100-year-old model of the Great Eastern, the largest ship in the world when she was built in 1857. When it opens the new museum will include a display tracing the history of the Irish naval service from before independence. It will include models, photos, documents and uniforms connected with the navy. Breasal O'Caollaí, who is the secretary of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, maintained that the Mariner’s Church itself, which was built in 1827 to serve the spiritual needs of sailors and soldiers, would be the main attraction. “It is one of the few mariner’s churches in the world that remains intact,” he said. “The building itself will attract people and the most valuable artefact we have is the building itself. “The renovation has been done totally to the highest specifications. Some work remains to be done on the museum. We do not want to open it until we are fully proud of it but we hope the doors will open at some point in 2010. “The whole church has been renovated,” he added. “The additional e350,000 will be spent on opening the place.” He claimed the museum would bring tens of thousands of visitors to Dún Laoghaire, which would in turn create jobs for the area. “The real story here is that the museum will provide an international attraction for Dún Laoghaire and it will help boost the centre of town,” he said. “It will also provide direct employment as we will have it open every day of the week and in addition and it will bring more people into Dún Laoghaire.”