National museum. Tel.: (01) 618811; Fax: (01) 766116

Governing organization: Department of Taoiseach.

Open: 10-17 Tu-Sa, 14-17 Su; closed M and Christmas Day. An appointment is suggested because so many of the musical instruments are in storage.

Primary responsibility: Keeper of the Art and Industrial Division.

Collection: about 300 instruments. Irish-made musical instruments are emphasized, including plucked and bowed stringed instruments by Thomas Perry, clavicytherium by Henry William Rother, Dublin, 1774, and pianos by William Southwell, both Dublin, as well as uilleann pipes, and bodhrans. A display of Irish harps includes the Trinity College harp, 14th c, the Dalway harp, 1691, and the O'Carolan harps, as well as several by John Egan, 19th c. There is a large collection of late 18th- and early 19th-c. guitars and harp-lutes, various woodwind including the double bassoon by Thomas Stanesby Jr., London 1739, that was used in the 1st performance of Handel's The Messiah, performed in London in 1742, and an ethnographic collection containing instruments from America, Africa, Asia, and Australasia.

History: The museum was established in 1877. The Trinity College, Dublin, ethnographic collection was transferred shortly afterwards. Currently the museum's severe shortage of space, coupled with ongoing renovations, results in the display of very few musical instruments.

Services: photography, information sheets, library.

Publications: Although there is no checklist or catalogue, the museum shortly plans to computerize its registers and indexes.