Dublin Writers Museum
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Músaem na Scríbhneoirí, Baile Átha Cliath | |
 | |
  Location within Central Dublin | |
| Established | November 1991 |
|---|---|
| Location | 18 Parnell Square, Dublin |
| Coordinates | 53°21′16″N 6°15′50″W / 53.354383°N 6.26401°W |
| Public transit access | Dublin Bus route 46E |
| Website | writersmuseum |
The Dublin Writers Museum was a museum of literary history in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in November 1991, and was hailed as an "iconic" museum in Dublin.[1] It closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was brought to an end in 2022 without ever reopening.
Maurice Gorham, journalist and author, proposed the idea of starting a literary museum in the 1970s.[2] The museum was opened on 18 November 1991, run by Dublin Tourism.[1] Its aim was "to promote interest in Irish literature as a whole and in the lives and works of individual Irish writers".[2] It was located in 18 Parnell Square, and consisted of two eighteenth-century buildings.[1][3] The main building, a red-brick Georgian-style house, had been used by George Jameson, son of the Jameson family, who owned Jameson Irish Whiskey.[1] Michael Stapleton, stuccodore from Dublin, decorated part of the main building.[3] Gorham Library, which commemorated its founder Gorham, was also set up on the upper floor.[4] The annexed building had a coffee shop, bookshop, and lecture room.[2]
David Norris launched his presidential campaign ahead of the Irish presidential election at Dublin Writers Museum on 5 October 2011.[5][6]
In 2012, Dublin Tourism was merged into Fáilte Ireland, and the museum had also been run by Fáilte Ireland since then.[7]
Having opened in 1991, the museum closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown.[7] It did not reopen. Set up by Dublin Tourism, it was transferred to Bord Failte in 2012. Bord Failte commissioned a report on its future in 2020, which concluded that it had become dated relative to modern expectations ("no longer meets the expectation of the contemporary museum visitor"),[8] so in 2022, the decision to end the operation permanently was made.[7] Two staff retired, two were allocated other Bord Failte duties. Announcements on the future of owned and lent artifacts were to follow.[7] Fáilte Ireland is still in charge of the museum artifacts after its closing.[7]
It is proposed that the building in 18 Parnell Square should be used as a museum to commemorate Harry Clarke, a stained glass artist from Dublin.[9]
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