Natural History Museum

Ireland's Natural History Museum, is a branch of the National Museum of Ireland It sometimes called the Dead Zoo. T he museum was built in 1856 and opened to the public for the first time in 1857, for parts of the collection of the Royal Dublin Society. Ownership of the building and its contents were passed to the Irish Free State after its formation. The Museum's collection and building have changed little since Victorian times. The museum is famous for its Victorian cabinet style, which houses one of the world's finest and fullest collections still to be seen today. Two million species, of which roughly half are insects, live side by side with, appropriately for a natural history museum, decorated and sculptured panels depicting mythological figures. This zoological museum encompasses outstanding examples of wildlife from Ireland and the far corners of the globe, some to be seen today and others long extinct. The Natual History Museum is known as the Museum of Museums. Admission is free.