Ulster Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Ulster Museum

The Ulster Museum building
Established	1929
Location	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Visitors	492,689 (2019)

The Ulster Museum's main hall, after it was updated in 2009

The Ulster Museum is a super interesting place located in the Belfast Botanic Gardens in Belfast. It has a huge space, about 8,000 square metres (that's like 90,000 square feet!) filled with amazing things. You can explore collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, items from different cultures (ethnography), treasures from the Spanish Armada, and learn about local history.

The museum also has cool exhibits on botany (plants), zoology (animals), and geology (rocks and earth). It's the biggest museum in Northern Ireland and part of the National Museums Northern Ireland group.

A Look Back: The Museum's History

The Ulster Museum started way back in 1821 as the Belfast Natural History Society. It first opened its doors to show off collections in 1833. By 1890, it even had an art gallery!

It was first called the Belfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery. In 1929, it moved to its current spot in Stranmillis. A new building was designed by James Cumming Wynne.

In 1962, the museum got a new name: the Ulster Museum. It was officially recognized as a national museum. A big new part was added in 1972, designed by Francis Pym. This new section was very modern for its time.

Since the 1940s, the Ulster Museum has collected lots of art by modern Irish artists, especially those from Ulster.

In 1998, the Ulster Museum joined up with the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and the Ulster-American Folk Park. Together, they became the National Museums and Galleries of Northern Ireland.

In 2005, the museum announced a big £17 million plan to update everything. It closed in October 2006 for the work and reopened in October 2009. That was exactly 80 years after it first opened! Over 100,000 people visited in just one month after it reopened.

Amazing Collections to Explore

The Malone Hoard: 19 polished stone axe heads from the Stone Age

The museum has galleries that show the history of Northern Ireland from the very beginning up to today. You can see art collections, fashion, and textiles from different times and cultures. There are also special exhibitions that change often.

The science collections at the Ulster Museum are really important. They have collections of birds, mammals, insects, molluscs (like snails and shells), marine invertebrates (animals without backbones), flowering plants, algae, and lichens from Ireland. They also have old books and papers about Irish natural history.

The museum used to have a big exhibit about dinosaurs, which was very popular! You can also see collections of rocks, minerals, and fossils.

Ancient Irish Treasures

The museum has some amazing finds from Northern Ireland's past. These include:

• The Malone Hoard: 19 polished Neolithic (Stone Age) axe heads.
• The Moss-side Hoard: Stone tools from the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age).
• The Downpatrick Hoard: Important gold jewelry from the Bronze Age.
• Part of the Coleraine Hoard: Treasures from the Late Roman period.
• The Viking Shanmullagh Hoard: Items left by Vikings.
• Medieval coins from the Armagh City Hoard and Armagh Castle Street Hoard.

You can also see other cool Bronze Age gold jewelry, like four of the rare gold lunulae (moon-shaped necklaces). There's also early Celtic art, including a decorated bronze shield found in the River Shannon, and the Bann disc with its cool triskele design.

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  The Moss-side Hoard of Mesolithic stone tools

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  A Gold lunula from Ballybay

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  The important Downpatrick Hoard of Bronze Age gold jewelry

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  Bronze Age gold ribbon torcs, from near Ballyrashane, County Londonderry

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  The Bann disc, made of bronze with a triskele design

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  A decorated bronze shield, found in the River Shannon

Amazing Animals: Zoology Collection

A new Triceratops exhibit when the museum reopened in 2009

The skeleton of an Irish elk

The museum's zoology collection is packed with incredible animal specimens.

Famous Animal Specimens

Some of the most special items you can see include:

• The Holotype of the emperor penguin, collected by Captain Crozier.
• Champion Patrick of Ifold, a famous Irish Wolfhound.
• Skeletons of Dwarf elephants from Sicily.
• The Egyptian mummified body of Takabuti.
• The mummy case of Tjesmutperet.
• A rare Slender-billed curlew.
• Huge Giant clams.
• A Lammergeier (bearded vulture) mount.
• A Japanese spider crab.
• The first European specimen of a Bonaparte's gull.
• A model of a Giant squid.
• A Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger).
• A Coelacanth (a very old type of fish).
• A Bald eagle that was the first ever seen in Europe.
• A Passenger pigeon (now extinct).
• The skeleton of an Irish elk, a giant deer.
• A rare Yellow-billed cuckoo from Ireland.
• A Conus gloriamaris shell, one of the rarest shells in the world.

Wildlife Art

The Zoology Department also has a collection of beautiful wildlife art. You can see works by famous artists like Peter Scott, Joseph Wolf, and Roger Tory Peterson. They also have classic books with amazing insect drawings.

Plants and Flowers: Botany Collection

The museum has a huge collection of dried plant specimens called a herbarium. It has over 100,000 samples! These include plants from Northern Ireland and all over the world. You can see algae, lichens, fungi, mosses, ferns, conifers, and flowering plants.

The oldest plant specimen in the museum is an alga collected in 1798 by John Templeton.

Art and Design Collections

The museum's art collection includes works by many important artists, such as:

• Jean Dubuffet
• Morris Louis
• Francis Bacon
• Colin Middleton
• Joseph Beuys

Fashion and Textiles

The Ulster Museum's Fashion & Textiles Collection shows the history of clothing from the 1700s to today. It has about 5,000 items, including clothes, accessories, old and new jewelry, and even dolls and toys.

The museum collects clothing that is well-designed or shows important changes in fashion history. You can see 18th-century silk gowns, early 20th-century fancy Parisian clothes (called couture), and modern international fashion. Famous designers like Chanel, Dior, Alexander McQueen, and Vivienne Westwood are all represented.

The textiles collection includes beautiful pieces by Irish embroiderers, like the 'Lennox Quilt' from 1712. There are also large linen wall hangings by the French artist Henri Matisse.

The Malone House Fire

Sadly, most of the museum's original costume and textile collection was destroyed in a fire in 1976. This happened after a bombing at Malone House in Belfast.

The collection was moved to Malone House for storage and conservation. On November 11, 1976, bombs were planted in the building. Everyone got out safely, but the fire caused the second floor, where the collection was, to collapse.

Many valuable items were lost, including a collection of linen damask that was considered one of the best in the world. An embroidered lady's jacket from around 1600 and many 18th-century dresses were also destroyed.

Only a few things survived, like the museum's tapestries, a new jewelry collection, the Lennox Quilt, and some 1950s and 1960s dresses that were on display.

Rebuilding the Fashion Collection

After the fire, the museum worked hard to replace the lost collection. They decided to focus on collecting fashion as an "Applied Art," meaning they wanted pieces that showed the tastes and culture of their time.

The museum received money to help replace its losses. This allowed them to buy historic fashion and couture from auctions. This helped the Ulster Museum build a new, amazing collection.

Today, the museum has many important pieces from the 20th century, including designs by Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Alexander McQueen, and Vivienne Westwood. They also collect modern fashion from famous designers and high street stores every year.

Past Art Shows

The museum has hosted many interesting art exhibitions, such as:

• Scultura Italiana (Italian Sculpture) in 1964
• Fabric and Form: Irish Fashion Since the 1950s in 1996
• Fashion & Feminism from June 2018 to June 2019

World Cultures: Ethnographic Collections

This collection shows items from different cultures around the world. You can see:

• Chola art and Bronze statues from the Chola Dynasty in India.
• Samurai armor from Japan.
• A war canoe from the Solomon Islands.

Treasures from the Girona Ship

A cannon from the galleass Girona

In 1971, the museum got amazing objects from the Spanish Armada ship called the Girona. This ship sank off the coast of Ireland in 1588. You can see some of these historic treasures at the museum.

Getting There by Train

The closest train station is Botanic. Regular trains run between Belfast Great Victoria Street, City Hospital, Botanic, and Belfast Central.

See Also

• Irish art
• List of tourist attractions in Ireland