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Irish Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
New lease of life: Dead Zoo Lab brings back beloved Natural History Museum collection
A new 'dead zoo' exhibition displaying objects from the Natural History Museum during its temporary closure has opened in Dublin. The famous Merrion Street museum, known colloquially as the Dead Zoo, closed in September for refurbishments likely to take several years. Its replacement exhibition, entitled the Dead Zoo Lab, has now opened at the National Museum in Collins Barracks. It has been designed to allow for ongoing changes to the displays, offering a broader range of the natural history collection over time. Approximately 1,300 objects will be on public display at any one time, including mammals, birds, geology, entomology, amphibians, reptiles and marine life. READ MORE Visitors can see some familiar favourites such as Spoticus the giraffe and the giant Irish deer. [ A buzz of discovery in the Dead Zoo Opens in new window ] 'The curators have done a huge amount of work on putting tons of stuff in the cases to actually make the diversity of the different animal groups come to life', natural history keeper Paolo Viscardi told The Irish Times. 'Really, that's the whole point of this space – it's to give us a bit of elbow room to try things out, to experiment, to change things around a little bit. But in the cases we get a chance to really bombard people with huge amounts of cool stuff.' Sadie Hanley (12) at the Dead Zoo Lab, Collins Barracks. Photograph: Mark Stedman For Emma Murphy, curator of terrestrial zoology at the Natural History Museum, the dodo is her favourite specimen on display. It is the first time in years that visitors can see the skeleton of the flightless bird which became extinct in the late 17th century. 'It was on permanent display on the balconies of Merrion Street which have been closed now since about 2007 and are going to be part of our major refurbishment,' Ms Murphy said. 'If you look closely at the skeleton, you'll be able to see that some parts are real and some parts are fake. So the real bone is made up of bones of different individuals that were found in kind of boggy marshland in Mauritius.' Other parts are made from wood. Additionally, a selection of delicate glass models from the Blaschka Glass Models of Marine Life is on display. The National Museum of Ireland has the world's largest collections of the models, created in the 19th century by German glass artists Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. Some visitors to the Dead Zoo Lab on Tuesday had fond memories of visiting the Natural History Museum and welcomed the opportunity to bring their children and grandchildren to the new exhibition. Ivan McCarthy from Swords, Co Dublin, brought his grandchildren. Having taken his children to the Merrion Square version many many years ago, he hopes his grandchildren will 'do the same with their own kids in the future, and it'll keep going forever.' Muireann Banks was exploring the exhibition with her nephew Enzo (five). 'I came here as a child over in Merrion Square, so it's great to come in and have a look at all the animals,' she said. Dr Patrick Roycroft, curator of geology at the Natural History Museum, is particularly excited for visitors to see his case of zoned micas, one of the most common rock forming minerals in the world and 'the most extraordinary thing you're going to see mineralogically'. He wants 'everybody from seven-year-olds to professors of mineralogy to know that this exists and that there's a ton of stuff, information and wonder that you can get out of it both scientifically and visually.' Director of collections and access at the National Museum of Ireland, Dr Éimear O'Connor, said the new exhibition 'has been designed to promote and encourage collaboration with communities, artists and scientists, all of which will inform the interpretation of the natural history collections for the museum on Merrion Street when it reopens following the refurbishment and conservation works.' The National Museum of Ireland is open seven days a week and admission is free.
Extra.ie
7 days ago
- General
- Extra.ie
'Dead zoo' finds a new haunt as beloved museum is brought back to life
Dublin's 'Dead Zoo' is being brought back to life with a temporary new home until 'extensive' repairs to the site are completed. The much-loved Natural History Museum is closed for 'conservation and refurbishment works', so a new Dead Zoo Lab is moving from its home on Merrion Street and opening in the National Museum at Collins Barracks today. The new exhibition space will feature favourite artefacts and exhibits such as Spoticus the Giraffe, the infamous eel choking on a frog, a giant Irish elk and a dodo skeleton. Dublin's 'Dead Zoo' is being brought back to life with a temporary new home until 'extensive' repairs to the site are completed. Pic: BOULENGER Xavier/Shutterstock The museum closed in September last year but no date has been given for when it will reopen as engineers are still assessing the work needed. However, it is expected the repairs could take several years because of the age of the building and the specialist structural work required. A spokesman for the museum explained: 'We estimate it will be several years before the displays are back open. During this time we will have the Dead Zoo Lab at our museum in Collins Barracks and visitors can sign up to our museum newsletter to receive regular updates.' The much-loved Natural History Museum is closed for 'conservation and refurbishment works', so a new Dead Zoo Lab is moving from its home on Merrion Street and opening in the National Museum at Collins Barracks today. Pic: BOULENGER Xavier/Shutterstock The closure is a double blow to visitors to the city as the Hugh Lane Gallery on Parnell Square is also to close for refurbishment at the end of next month, for at least three years. The Dead Zoo replacement has been created 'to ensure the public continues to have an opportunity to see some of the most popular specimens from the natural history collection, as well as some specimens that haven't been on display for many years', the spokesman said. They added: 'The nature of the display of the natural history collection at the Natural History Museum on Merrion Street has been largely unchanged since Victorian times, and the Dead Zoo Lab at Collins Barracks will be used by the National Museum to experiment with and test new methods of engaging the public. The new exhibition space will feature favourite artefacts and exhibits such as Spoticus the Giraffe, the infamous eel choking on a frog, a giant Irish elk and a dodo skeleton. Pic: BOULENGER Xavier/Shutterstock 'At any one time approximately 1,300 objects will be on display, spanning entomology, geology, mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles, and a wide variety of marine life.' Paolo Viscardi, natural history keeper at the Dead Zoo, said: 'Lots of firm favourites will be on display… such as the dodo skeleton and hundreds of examples of animal species from around the world.' The museum is open seven days a week and admission is free. See
