The Treasury
Gallery Closure
The Treasury exhibition space will close on the 18th March 2010 (for the foreseeable future) to facilitate its refurbishment.
The main treasures will be inaccessible to the public for one week (18th – 24th March 2010).
However the treasures exhibition will reopen in the small treasury on the 25th March 2010.
Inspired by the great church treasuries of medieval Europe, this exhibition houses outstanding religious and secular metalwork dating from the pagan Celtic Iron Age through to the Middle Ages. Objects include the sumptuously ornamented Broighter gold collar, found with other neck ornaments and intriguing models of a boat and a cauldron. The Broighter Collar is decorated in the La Tène art style introduced from the continent as is the great bronze trumpet from Loughnashade, Co. Armagh.
Pride of place is given to some of the best known treasures of the eighth to ninth-Century ‘Golden Age’ such as the Ardagh and Derrynaflan Hoards, the Moylough Belt Shrine and the gilt silver 'Tara' Brooch, remarkable for the sumptuousness and variety of its decoration, and the detail and quality of its workmanship.
Personal ornaments of plain silver such as brooches and bracelets as wel as hoards of silver bullion and coins are characteristic of the Viking Age in Ireland. A selection of croziers and the elaborate Shrine of St Patrick’s Bell are illustrative of the new styles and trends of the succeeding Romanesque period.