CHAS lecture on the history of Co Carlow Museum
A delighted Kevin Kennedy, last of the founder members of Carlow County Museum in 1973, in July 2023 with the Museum's MSPI Full Accreditation Award outside the Museum with cllr Tom O'Neill then mayor of Carlow Municipal District, cllr Andrea Dalton, then cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council and chairperson of the board of Carlow County Museum, Richard Codd, President of the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society with staff and board members of Carlow County Museum and staff of the Carlow Tourist Office Photo: Thomas Sunderland Photography
TO CELEBRATE more than 50 years of Carlow County Museum, the next Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society (CHAS) lecture will be delivered by museum curator Dermot Mulligan, focusing of the development of the museum over those years.
The lecture will take place at 8pm on Wednesday 16 October in the Seven Oaks Hotel, Carlow.
Carlow County Museum first opened its doors to the public on Sunday 2 December 1973. This was the realisation of one of the ambitions of CHAS since it was founded in 1946.
The museum was founded and operated by CHAS, which continued until 2002, when operations were taken over the Carlow County Council to create the official county museum.
The museum’s first premises was located in part of the old Christian Brothers school building on College Street. In 1979, the museum relocated to the Theatre Room of the Town Hall, where it remained until 2002.
In 2012, the museum moved back to College Street, this time to the refurbished Presentation Convent as part of Carlow town’s Cultural Quarter, which houses the Carlow Library, the tourist office, the county museum, Carlow cathedral, Carlow College and Visual.
In 2003, Carlow County Museum was designated by the National Museum of Ireland to collect and display archaeological finds, a status granted to only 12 museums in Ireland.
In 2023 on its 50th anniversary, the museum achieved full accreditation under the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI), the first museum in the county to achieve this award.
Carlow native Dermot Mulligan has been museum curator of Carlow County Museum since 2002.
He co-ordinated the development of the new museum premises on College Street, which opened in 2012. In 2003, Dermot was designated by the National Museum of Ireland to collect archaeological objects on its behalf for the county. He was co-coordinator of the award-winning Carlow Trails of the Saints project, which was launched in 2010.
For 12 years, 2004 to 2016, he co-ordinated Heritage Week in Co Carlow. Dermot was the Ireland 2016 county co-ordinator for Carlow, the only museum curator appointed as a county co-ordinator, which saw Carlow host over 60 events to commemorate the 1916 Rising.
He co-ordinates the international multi-agency project ‘Rediscovering S Willibrord, patron saint of Luxembourg and his Co Carlow connection’. Dermot has previously been secretary to the Local Authority Museums’ Network (LAMN) and secretary of the Designated Museums Committee.
Carlow County Museum is a year-round attraction which, over four galleries, gives a wonderful snapshot of the history and heritage of Co Carlow and its people.
As always, admission to both the museum and the CHAS lecture is free.
