One of the city’s most charming attractions has won a major EU prize.
The Little Museum of Dublin has won the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Award, generally considered Europe’s highest honour in the heritage field.
The museum can be found on Stephen’s Green, just around the corner from Dawson Street.
It won in the Education, Training and Awareness-Raising category, the only Irish winner on the night, and now goes into a Europe-wide competition for a public choice award.
Among other things, the museum houses a room dedicated to the success of U2, a permanent exhibition of Queen Victoria’s visit to Dublin in 1900 and the personal collection of popular former Dublin Lord Mayor Alfie Byrne.
“This delightful museum, located in the heart of Dublin, is dedicated to the history of the city as told by its people,” read a statement from the Europa Nostra Award. “Its approach to collecting is innovative, whereby people are invited to donate artefacts which they feel represent the history of their city.”
“The initiative has proved to be extremely popular and has generated a sense of ownership to the people of the city which is not always present in traditional, large museums.
“This openness and generosity is also evident in the museum’s method of hosting visitors, where technological gadgets are avoided in favour of guides who relish their role as storytellers.”
Little Museum Director Trevor White said: “It is truly an honour to receive this award. We started this museum with a simple public call for donations, and it is thrilling to see how much the museum has grown in 5 years.
“But that growth is the result of a collective effort – from the members of the public who donated artefacts to the collection, to our partners in Dublin City Council, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and members of the business community.
“It is a privilege for us to carry out this work, and for this work to be recognized at a European level.”
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