National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History (Collins Barracks)

The National Museum’s decorative arts and history branch occupies Collins Barracks on Benburb Street, and the museum uses the barracks name for the site as often as the collection’s own. The great parade square and the long ranges of the building are worth the walk on their own, before you go inside. The collections cover furniture, silver, ceramics, costume and Irish military history, and the permanent Changing Ireland galleries run alongside a rotating exhibition programme.

The Dead Zoo Lab is here too, a stand-in space from the Natural History Museum while the Merrion Street building is closed for works, so some of the Dead Zoo can still be seen while its own home is shut.

Free admission, as at every branch of the National Museum. Open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm, and Sunday and Monday 1pm to 5pm.