Welcome summer! Are you getting too hot being out and about in Tralee this bank holiday weekend? Why not drop into the Museum to cool down and explore our exhibitions and hands-on activities! We are open on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 10am until 5pm; last admission is at 4pm. A special treat awaits on Saturday 3 June: our facilitator Helena is delivering fun drop-in arts and crafts workshops from 11am until 3pm. Our arts and crafts activities are most suitable for children of primary school age – but younger or older kids can join in too! Learn how to make your own walking spider or other creepy crawlies and rest assured – anyone who has done workshops with Helena before knows that it’s fun guaranteed!
Kerry’s primary schools engage in amazing local heritage projects every year: climbing in and out of ringforts, exploring the history of their schools or village, researching landmark buildings near their school, recording native plants and birds, interviewing their grandparents, making history models – the children’s creativity and imagination is boundless. To showcase some of these fabulous projects, we have partnered up with Radio Kerry to create Heritage Hunters, a series of ten short podcasts which are being broadcast on Jerry O’Sullivan’s Kerry Today throughout 2023.
Kerry Heritage Hunters is a creative collaboration of Radio Kerry, the Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society, Kerry County Museum and Kerry County Council. This primary school initiative is kindly supported by the Heritage Council of Ireland, The Education Centre Tralee and the Sound and Vision fund of Coimisiún na Meán.
Click on the links below and explore Kerry’s rich local heritage through children’s eyes. We would like to invite you to join the pupils of Spa NS going oyster fishing in Fenit, climb to the top of Blennerville Windmill with the pupils of Blennerville NS and travel on the Ghost train to Croker with the pupils of Glenbeigh NS. The remaining poscasts will be recorded over the next few months – watch this space!
Saint Brendan the Navigator was born in Fenit, near Tralee around 500 AD. He founded a federation of monasteries in Ireland, but he is most famous for his legendary voyage across the North Atlantic in a simple wooden boat. Without the help of navigational instruments, he may have reached America 500 years before the Vikings and 1000 years before Christopher Columbus. His story seems to describe the sheep and seabirds of the Faeroe Islands, the volcanoes of Iceland, the icebergs of Greenland and the fog surrounding Newfoundland. His travel adventures were written down in monasteries all over Europe and soon became a major medieval bestseller.
Presenter: Claudia Köhler is the Education Officer at Kerry County Museum and chairperson of the Saint Brendan Heritage Committee, Fenit.
Duration: 30 minutes + Quiz and Q&A
Suitable for: 3rd – 6th Class (all ages welcome)
Strand/ Unit: Stories/ Stories from the lives of people in the past
This webinar is part of a series of events in collaboration with the Education Support Centre Tralee, the Saint Brendan Heritage Committee in Fenit and the Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society to commemorate Kerry’s seafaring saint.
Join us at Kerry County Museum on Thursday 18 May at 7:30pm for a fascinating talk by RTÉ journalist Seán Mac an tSíthigh. Drawing from old manuscripts, Seán will explore aspects of the night sky in Irish folklore. While Greek and Roman traditions may dominate our perception of the constellations today, the Irish once had their own native understanding of the stars. In this talk old star-names, origin legends and folk-beliefs about the stars will be revealed, offering an imaginative rendering the night sky and a forgotten tradition. This is a free event to mark Bealtaine and International Museum Day but please note that places are limited and booking is required. The event is likely to sell out.
To book please call the Museum at 066 7127777. All museum’s galleries are spread out over three floors and can be accessed by elevator, if required. Please call us or email education@kerrymuseum.ie if you have any special requirements or would like to discuss the details of your visit in advance of the event.
Please join us at kerry County Museum on Thursday May 4 at 11:30am for a Behind the Scenes Tour with Curator Helen O’Carroll. Helen will reflect on some of the museum’s award-winning exhibitions and discuss the museum’s varied collection. This is a free Bealtaine event for Kerry Archaeological & Historical Society’s current and prospective members. If you are not a member yet but are curious about becoming one, why not come along on the day – all are welcome! All the museum’s galleries are spread out over three floors and can be accessed by elevator, if required. Please call the Museum at 066 712 7777 or email education@kerrymuseum.ie if you have any special requirements or would like to discuss the details of your visit in advance of the event.+ GOOGLE CALENDAR+ ICAL IMPORT
Kerry County Museum is open throughout the May Bank holiday weekend from 10am until 5pm. A special treat awaits on Saturday 29 April: Join our fabulous facilitator Helena Stackpoole for free drop-in arts and crafts between 11am and 3:30pm. To mark Bealtaine, traditionally celebrating as the beginning of summer, Helena will explore some Irish flowers and plants through arts and crafts. Booking is not necessary and the cost is included in our regular admission fee (€5 for adults and children go free as part of our family offer).
What else is there to do for families? You can experience life in medieval times, dig up Viking skeletons, explore the extraordinary story of Tom Crean’s adventures in Antarctica and much more. Simply ask for our activity booklet at Reception and start your journey around the Museum. We also have a fun spotter sheet to explore Tralee Town Park after your visit.
Did you know that we are open throughout the Easter bankholiday weekend? Visit Kerry County Museum during the Easter school holidays and explore our exhibitions and fun activities. Follow our Easter bunny trail, relax with some spring colouring and fun arts and crafts and learn all about Kerry’s colourful history. A special treat awaits on Easter Saturday at 12noon and 2pm – join Ann Fitzgerald for a traditional Punch & Judy puppet show. All events are free of charge and are included in the admission fee of €5 per adult/ €10 family ticket. Our opening times over the easter bank holiday weekend is as follows:
Good Friday: 9:30 – 5:00 (last admission at 4:15pm)
Roger Casement’s landing at Banna Strand on Good Friday 1916 was a pivotal event in the lead up to the rebellion that broke out in Dublin a few days later.
Our exhibition guides you through Casement’s fascinating life journey: from crown servant and celebrated international humanitarian to doomed revolutionary. We explore the repercussions of his brief sojourn in Kerry and its impact on local people, how the failure of his gun running mission affected The Rising, and the way his trial for High Treason was prosecuted in London. Tracing this remarkable man’s legacy, the exhibition provides a unique opportunity to view objects that have never been displayed before.
Запрошуємо сім’ї: наш музей підходить для сімей, ми маємо багато
заходів та подій для дітей та сімей, наприклад: ви можете одягнутись в середньовічні костюми та викопати скелети вікінгів або скористатись буклетом – «Стежка дослідника» (безкоштовні дитячи буклети з блакитною обкладинкою на стійці рєцепції).
Тривалість: ми рекомендуємо 60-90 хвилин для вашого визиту.
Графік роботи: вт – сб з 9:30 до 17:00 (останній вхід: о 16:15).
Влітку (червень, липень і серпень) ми відкриті сім днів на тиждень.
Рецепція та туалети: розташовані на цьому рівні, біля входу.
Доступність: вбиральні для людей в інвалідних візках та пеленальні
столики для немовлят розташовані на нижньому поверсі. Будь ласка, запитайте співробітника.
Ліфт: до всіх виставкових майданчиків можливо дістатися ліфтом. Будь ласка, запитайте у наших співробітників.
Однобічна система: діє однобічна система (рух в одному напрямку) і ми рекомендуємо почати свій візит нагорі з виставкової кімнат 1.
Виставки з 1 по 5 розташовані нагорі: 1 – Погляд на життєву подорож
сера Роджера Кейсмана (Roger Casement), та його перебування у Керрі у 1916 році; 2 – Тимчасовий виставковий зал; 3 – Аудіо-відео кімната; 4 – Головна галерея муїзею, Керрі з найдавніших часів; 5 – Полярна кімната Тома Кріна (TomСrean).
Виставки 6 і 7 розташовані внизу: 6 – Зал археології;
7 – Прогулянка середньовічними вулицями міста Тралі, реконструкція
1450 року нашої ери.
Вихід: вихід такий самий, як і вхід, через стійку реєстрації.
Контактна інформація: якщо ви хочете взяти участь в екскурсіях та
майстер-класах українською або хотіли б стати волонтером у музеї, зв’яжіться з нашим спеціалістом з освіти Клаудією за адресою: education@kerrymuseum.ie.
Чи знаєте ви: у нас є «Клуб музейної культури» і ми будемо раді, якщо
Ви приєднаєтесь до нас – події зазвичай відбуваються по суботах.
Соціальні медіа: слідкуйте за нами у Facebook, Twitter та Instagram.
Веб-сайт: для отримання додаткової інформації відвідайте наш веб-сайт: www.kerrymuseum.ie.
The Museum Culture Club visiting Kerry County Museum. Images by Pauline Dennigan Photography
Join published writer Bayveen O’Connell for a free creative writing workshop at Kerry County Museum. The aim of this creative workshop is to inspire museum visitors to engage with objects in a creative way. The workshop is aimed at writers and members of the public of all levels of writing experience. Writers of all genres are welcome. The participants will spend time with the artefact, draw inspiration from it and from the theme it inspires, and will produce a piece of writing they can share on the museum’s website.
Bayveen has been giving regular professional Creative Writing Workshops in person and online since 2018. Her fiction and non-fiction have been published in Irish and international print anthologies and in online literary magazines. She has a background in TEFL teaching, and holds a BA English, Media & Cultural Studies, an MLitt in Publishing, and is currently doing an MA in Museum Studies. In July 2022, she delivered an ekphrastic themed workshop on the Retreat West writing platform. Her writing has been nominated for Best Microfiction and the Pushcart Prize. She has a deep interest in writing inspired by art and artefacts and is exploring this in her Museum Studies dissertation. She is also currently working on her collection of flash fiction – short fiction of fewer than 1000 words.