Latest news with #NationalMuseumOfIreland
BreakingNews.ie
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
Portrait of last Battle of Britain pilot handed over at National Museum
A portrait of the last Battle of Britain pilot, John 'Paddy' Hemingway, has been handed over at the National Museum of Ireland. Group Captain Hemingway, originally from Dublin, was the final surviving member of 'The Few', who took to the skies in 1940 to defend the UK against Luftwaffe attacks in what became a pivotal moment of the Second World War. Advertisement He died in March this year, at the age of 105. His portrait will find a permanent home at Collins Barracks in Dublin. Group Captain John 'Paddy' Hemingway (Brian Lawless/PA) The portrait, unveiled by Mr Hemingway at the British Embassy in Dublin last year marking his 105th birthday, was painted by Welsh artist Dan Llywelyn Hall, 44. He was the last living pilot from the Battle of Britain and would have been 106 on July 17. Advertisement Mr Llywelyn Hall is known for numerous portraits, such as the Queen, Shane MacGowan, Amy Winehouse and other public figures. Mr Llywelyn Hall said: 'I am pleased for the portrait of the Last of the Few, John Hemingway, to be a legacy for the public in John's native Ireland. 'It's especially meaningful this portrait will live in Dublin as it was John's home and held in great affection. 'This portrait serves as both a record of remarkable life and a testament to the rich personality beyond the uniform.' Advertisement He added: 'I sat with John in 2024 in his nursing home and we chatted a lot. 'I was endlessly drawing in the process, taking photographs, videoing and gathering as much information as I could. 'I couldn't epitomise his whole life in one canvas so I broke it down into a series of five, depicting different facets of his character and his life. 'For this one, it seemed appropriate that the National Museum chose this to represent his life. Advertisement 'I am delighted it has ended up in a public collection. 'It can be looked at and kept under a watchful eye and be amongst other artefacts and objects and things which relate to his life.' Brenda Malone, curator of Irish Military History, said: 'We are delighted to accept this generous gift from Dan, and are particularly happy to record John Hemingway's story, through his portrait, with us. 'The National Museum collects and preserves the history of Irishmen and women's experience of military service around the world, especially in times of conflict. Advertisement 'John's story stands as a representation for the many Irish people who served in the Royal Air Force during WWII. 'His portrait and history will form a valuable part of our collections which we hold in trust for the Irish people.' In 1940, Group Capt Hemingway was recorded as destroying a German airliner and the following day he downed a German Luftwaffe plane, but his Hurricane fighter was hit by anti-aircraft fire and he had to make a forced landing. He then became one of the frontline members of 11 Group's response to daily attacks by German aircraft, which went on to be known as the Battle of Britain. In August 1940, during hectic dogfights, he was twice forced to bail out of his Hurricanes, landing once in the sea off the Essex coast and in marshland on the other occasion. In 1941 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and in September of that year he was mentioned in despatches by senior officers.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
10 times gold was found in everyday places
Gold hunting often conjures images of adventurers sifting through gold pans or seeking huge gold nuggets in far-flung locations. But sometimes gold can be right under your nose – or, for one couple, right in their back garden. Read on for some of the most unexpected and exciting gold discoveries of recent times. All dollar values in US dollars and currency conversions correct for the time of valuation. A trip to the pub usually ends with less change in your pocket. But it was a different story for five Irish builders carrying out groundwork at Cooney's Bar in Carrick-on-Suir in Tipperary, Ireland in 2013. The team of builders found 81 gold coins when working on the foundations. One of the builders, Shane Comerford, initially dismissed the coins as worthless and threw a fistful to the ground when the find disturbed their work on the pub. But once they wiped away the clay covering the coins, the builders realised they had found something special. They had discovered a hoard of 17th-century gold guineas and half guineas under the pub's floorboards. The coins went on display at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The finder's reward for locating the gold coins was not disclosed, but it was likely enough to buy the five unlikely treasure finders a few drinks. The English town of Milton Keynes isn't the first place you'd expect to find South African money. But during lockdown in 2020, one Milton Keynes resident struck gold when they discovered 50 gold coins from apartheid-era South Africa buried in their garden. According to a report by The British Museum, the Krugerrand coins – the first in South Africa to contain one troy ounce of gold – were minted by the Rand Refinery in Germiston in the 1970s. Each coin was estimated to be worth £1,500 to £2,000 ($1.9k to $2.6k), giving the total hoard a value of up to £100,000 ($133k). The origins of the gold remain a mystery to this day. These 80 gold coins, known as US Dollar 'Double Eagles', were minted in San Francisco between 1854 and 1913. Hidden in a glass jar, they lay buried in a Hackney garden for almost 70 years. When residents made this extraordinary discovery in 2007 while digging a frog pond, they were understandably curious as to how the coins made their way to London... The incredible story goes like this: in 1940, a Jewish family fleeing the Nazis buried the coins in their London back garden, fearing a German invasion. Members of the family tragically died when the house was bombed in the Blitz, meaning the hiding place was lost for decades. After its discovery in 2007, the hoard was donated to the Museum of London, which later found one of the owners' descendants, Max Sulzbacher. He permanently donated one of the coins to the Hackney Museum, while the rest of the hoard was sold at auction for a total of £98,280 ($154k). A cleaner at South Korea's Incheon International Airport made an unbelievable discovery during a shift in May 2018. When emptying a bin, the airport worker found seven gold bars worth around $319,000 (£240k). Despite South Korea's 'Finders Keepers' law, which allows the finder to keep the trove if the owner doesn't come forward in six months, the cleaner was not allowed to claim the gold because he was on duty at the time. The unnamed airport worker missed out on the 5-20% of the gold's total price for which he would have been eligible, which would have been up to $64,000 (£48k). In November 2001, metal detectorist Cliff Bradshaw was in a potato field near Sandwich, England when his detector suddenly made a faint, high-pitched whine. The treasure hunter began to dig, and just 18 inches (45cm) below the surface he excavated an early Bronze Age artefact. Bradshaw had stumbled upon a gold chalice dating from 1700-1500 BC, which had possibly been used by a priest-ruler for spiritual purposes. Now known as the Ringlemere Cup, it was snapped up by the British Museum for £250,000 ($333k), with the lucky finder and the landowner splitting the cash. A 110-year-old piano was the unlikely hiding place for a hoard of more than 900 gold sovereign coins, the largest such haul ever found in the UK. The upright piano had been donated to Bishop's Castle Community College in 2016. While piano tuner Martin Backhouse was working on it, he found the coins stored in fabric pouches underneath the instrument's keys. The origins of the hoard remain a mystery. It's still unknown who hid the coins, which date from 1847 to 1915, so carefully beneath the piano's keys, though they probably stashed them away to keep them safe during World War I. Before its donation, Graham and Meg Hemmings had owned the piano for 33 years while their children were learning to play and were completely unaware of the treasure that lay within. The hoard, valued at £500,000 ($665k), was sold and both the college and the piano tuner who found them received a reward. The piano's previous owners didn't see a penny from the coins' sale but said they were "very happy" some of the money would go to the college. A couple in the French town of Roanne in the Loire region found themselves under police investigation after discovering 28 gold bars in their back garden. After moving into the property in 2002, the couple discovered six gold bars in 2009, followed by another 22 in 2013. The bars had an estimated value of €800,000 ($887k/£666k). Despite legally declaring the finds, the couple sparked a criminal investigation when they sold 23 of the bars, creating transaction levels that alerted an anti-money laundering agency. The news then attracted other claimants. The house's previous owner took the couple to court over the ownership of the bullion and won. The finders had to return the remaining gold, along with the money from the sale of 15 of them. In June of this year, a truly staggering gold hoard sold for almost $3.5 million (£2.6m) at auction in France. The collection of more than 1,000 gold coins featured many rarities, including several from the ancient Kingdom of Macedonia dating back as far as 336-323 BC. Almost complete sets from the reigns of French Kings Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI were also included. The coins were discovered hidden in the wall of a house in a small rural village in France. But how did they get there? The valuable collection belonged to Paul Nacre, a resident of Castillonnès (pictured). According to coin expert Thierry Parsy, 'Narce, who lived a modest life and didn't see a lot of the world, spent all of his money on his collection.' The reclusive Nacre died in a nursing home at the age of 89 last August. He had no direct heirs. The notary in charge of his estate was made aware of his hobby by villagers and set out to find the collection. An extensive search of Nacre's house turned up nothing, and the notary was ready to call it a day before peering behind a picture on a wall in a storage room. There he found a chest containing the gold coins, which Nacre had meticulously catalogued over the course of his lifetime. Staying in France, in late 2016, a man who inherited a house in the town of Evreux, Normandy was shocked to find that he had gained more than just the property. The house was filled with 220.5lb (100kg) of gold coins, ingots and bars secreted in different places. "It started when he found a tinplate box (with gold inside) screwed under a piece of furniture", according to La Dépêche, the local newspaper. The man's next find was inside a "whisky bottle box with a few gold pieces carefully hidden". The hoard gradually grew, and the lucky treasure finder sold it all for €3.5 million ($3.8m/£2.9m), though reports suggest he could have been hit with a hefty inheritance tax. While walking their dog in 2013, a couple from northern California made a record-breaking discovery. Buried on their property were several rusted cans filled with a total of 1,427 gold coins – the largest gold coin hoard ever unearthed in the US. The coins were all minted between 1847 and 1894 and probably hidden away during the 19th-century Gold Rush. Although the exact history of the coins remains a mystery, their value was estimated at $10 million (£7.5m). After the discovery, the finders of the so-called Saddle Ridge Hoard chose to remain anonymous, as US Treasure Trove Laws meant the collection could be claimed by descendants of the person who originally buried it. The finders then decided to sell the coins via Amazon. Now discover
Irish Times
24-05-2025
- Irish Times
‘It belongs with the books of Kells and Durrow.' Illuminated manuscripts back in Ireland for the first time in more than 1,000 years
Nestled among Alpine foothills and south of the glittering Lake Constance lies the historic city of St Gallen, in Switzerland . Natural beauty aside, the city is home to the Abbey of St Gall, a Unesco world heritage site and unexpected repository of Irish history and culture. Now famed for its impressive library, the abbey was founded in the eighth century on the site of a hermitage established in 612 by one of Ireland's lesser-known saints, an Irish monk called Gall or Gallus. Although the monastery was dissolved in 1805, its library was spared and remains brimming with ancient manuscripts today. Honouring the two countries' shared history, the Swiss library has furnished the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) with 17 of its illustrious manuscripts for an exhibition celebrating the story of Gall's journey to continental Europe. This is the library's largest loan ever; for such an institution to bestow more than a couple of manuscripts at a time is practically unheard of. Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe is free to visit in the museum's Kildare Street location from May 30th until October 24th. READ MORE 'If you stood out on O'Connell Street now and asked who was Gallus, I doubt you'd get an answer now,' says Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, a recently retired professor at the University of Galway who was instrumental in the exhibition's conception. [ From the archive: Wandering Irish 'outsider' stumbled upon site for Swiss city of St Gallen Opens in new window ] 'But if you asked anybody in Switzerland or Italy or France or Germany, they'd keep you there for hours. They're very happy about their associations with the Irish.' Ó Cróinín recalls the moment he suggested to library director Dr Cornel Dora that the Abbey of St Gall might temporarily spare some of its collection. The loan that followed allows select manuscripts to return to Irish soil for the first time in a millennium. The pair attended a conference together in the British Library in December 2018, shortly after collaborating on an exhibition at St Gallen. The Swiss city of Saint Gallen, with the Abbey of St Gall visible in the centre of the picture. Photograph: iStock 'We were having a cup of coffee during one of the breaks and I said to Cornel, 'Look, the Brits do this thing well. Why don't we do this kind of thing? Would you be interested in letting us have some of your manuscripts?'' Almost six and a half years later, that idea is coming to life. Accompanying the 17 manuscripts, which range from poems and letters to religious texts, are more than 100 objects gathered from NMI's collection. St Gallen was always conscious of the fact it had an Irish connection. Gall was a very popular saint in the region — Dr Cornel Dora The Faddan More psalter, found on a Tipperary bog in 2006, is one highlight. Many recent discoveries are on display for the first time, such as the Lough Kinale Book Shrine and a Viking sword, straight from conservation. 'It is a bit like a dream of mine to do something like this because we have this Irish heritage that is important to us in St Gallen,' says Dora, on a phone call from his home in Switzerland. Gall was one of 12 companions to another Irish saint and missionary, Columbanus, responsible for several monastic foundations including those at Luxeuil in eastern France, and Bobbio, in northern Italy. Image from an Irish Evangeliary from the library of the Abbey of St Gall, part of the exhibition Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe 'The Irish brought a new fervour into the Christian life here on the Continent,' says Dora of the monks' European mission. Following a dispute between Gall and Columbanus, they parted ways. 'Gall stayed at Lake Constance and took to the wilderness, the forest. He settled and made a cabin, and about three years later he assembled other monks around him and founded an Irish type of monastery there.' It was on the site of this hermitage, where Gall is buried, that the Abbey of St Gall was founded. 'St Gallen was always conscious of the fact it had an Irish connection. Gall was a very popular saint in the region. Pilgrims came and visited his grave,' says Dora. It is a tradition that continues today. 'We have testimonials that there were Irish men here repeatedly. They really wanted to visit their compatriot Gall. It seems the Irish knew there was an Irish saint in St Gallen. We know about four or five Irish monks who stayed here. One was an recluse, who lived in a confinement that had no door.' The manuscripts on loan to NMI comprise a mixture of books thought to be written in Irish monastic settlements, later travelling to Europe with Gall and Columbanus, and texts penned by Irish scribes in St Gallen. Maeve Sikora, keeper of Irish antiquities at the museum, is joined by assistant keeper and exhibition curator Matthew Seaver, as the pair give me a preview of the exhibition space and a sneak peek at its 'aesthetic highlight' – a mid-eighth century Gospel from St Gallen, thought to originate from the Irish midlands. 'It's really in a class of its own. It belongs with [the books of] Kells and Durrow,' says Seaver, as we inspect the text's vibrantly coloured vellum. On one page a barefoot St Matthew – in hues of orange, red and blue – applies a scribal knife or scraper to a page and dips his pen in an inkwell. He is assisted by a dutiful angel. For Sikora, the exhibition is about portraying 'the connectedness' between Ireland and continental Europe. 'People coming and people going. Ideas coming and going. Artefacts coming and going.' The modern European idea shines up for the first time in these letters [from St Columbanus to the pope] — Dr Cornel Dora Manuscripts are complemented by related artefacts, 'so you can see an object that looks just like an illustration in one of the manuscripts,' says Seaver. 'Sometimes a shard of pottery is hard to understand on its own,' says Sikora of the curatorial decision to combine ceramics and works of metal and stone with the manuscripts. Pointing to where some of the objects are soon to be displayed, Seaver describes how their journeys were intertwined with those of Irish missionaries like Columbanus and Gall. 'The ships that are carrying Columbanus and Gall are carrying these pots. They're coming from the eastern Mediterranean, then they're coming from the south of France and toing and froing between Ireland and there in the sixth and seventh centuries. The physical journey is the same as the manuscripts and the people went on, so that's what we're trying to get across.' A Latin grammar book, whose margins are brimming with commentary written in Irish by frustrated monks 'remarking on the writing conditions, how bad the ink is, giving out about making mistakes and begging forgiveness' is on display. [ 'You are only the sixth person to see this since the Vikings': Behind the scenes at the National Museum of Ireland Opens in new window ] 'They write in ogham at one point, saying they are ale-killed, which is essentially hungover,' says Seaver, laughing. The book in question is a copy of the Institutiones Grammaticae of Priscian, well known to Irish scholars in the early Middle Ages. Copies of letters from St Columbanus to the pope make for a timely inclusion in the exhibition. According to Dora, 'the modern European idea shines up for the first time in these letters'. Fragments of the earliest surviving copy of Isidore's etymologiae, written by an Irish scribe in the seventh century and later brought to St Gallen, also make an appearance. The etymological encyclopedia was originally compiled by the influential bishop Isidore of Seville. Another key aspect of the exhibition is a collaborative student manuscript project, which will be on display alongside a short film documenting it. The abbey school in Switzerland was paired up with Irish schools in Ballymote, Co Sligo, Kells in Meath, and Gallen Community School in Offaly. Led by historian and calligrapher Timothy O'Neill, the classes met online where they learned about early medieval culture and how to write in insular script. The students then had the opportunity to express their own ideas on vellum, emulating the scribes of medieval Ireland and St Gallen. NMI's exhibition also traces the journey of one of the abbey's schoolmasters and most famous pilgrims – Moengal, later named Marcellus. Moengal travelled Europe with his uncle Marcus, a bishop. 'They went to Rome and on their return from Rome they went back to St Gallen and decided to stay,' says Seaver. Moengal 'taught a curriculum covering the seven liberal arts to some of the great master craftspeople from St Gallen', leaving a lasting legacy. Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe is at the National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin, from May 30th until October 24th.
