As much as what it holds Dublin Natural History Museum is history in its own right. Opened in 1857 , built by the Royal Dublin Society, it really hasn’t changed much. It is a museum of museums.

The bottom floor holds Irish animals, including some extinct ones.

Giant Irish Deer. Has been extinct for about 10600 years

The top floor was laid out in the 19th century in taxonomic groups and it really hasn’t changed.

The skeleton in the centre is a whale.

It has animals that as an Australian I am very familiar with, even if some are now extinct

Various Australian marsupials

Thylacine, better known as a Tasmanian Tiger. They’ve been extinct since the 1930s, though lots of people keep looking for them in the remote Tasmanian wilderness.

It also has animals that I’ve never seen and am unlikely to.

 

Pangolin

Porcupine

Lemmings and other similar rodents.

Sloths.

There are also bigger animals such as

Elephant

Moose and Giraffe.

It is enthralling to walk around. I’m too young to remember museums when they were like this and, while I can see some people having ethical issues with the sheer number of dead animals, the layout and the specimens are absolutely fascinating. Even more than the individual specimens it is the harking back to the old era of museums that I found really interesting.