Reconstructed Rooms: Four Centuries of Furnishings
Step through Four Centuries of Furnishings. From Georgian era to contemporary Irish furniture design.
Four Centuries of Furnishings
Through accounts of times past, touching objects and reading about life during the periods in question, Reconstructed Rooms: Four Centuries of Furnishings traces the development of furniture in Ireland from 1600 through to the present day. It has accompanying interactive gallery which invites visitors to touch, examine, explore and learn about chair design over the past two hundred years.
The material is displayed in a series of room settings, from the 17th century with oak furniture and panelling, through the refined splendour of Georgian Ireland to the high style of the 19th century.
The exhibition also shows some of the international furniture collection, not exhibited for many decades. The galleries are visually enhanced by objects, such as textiles, silverware, glass and ceramics, from other collections.
To the present day
The 20th century furniture gallery looks at Irish modernism from 1900 to the present day. On display is Irish furniture from various design movements, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Deco bedroom, to the thoroughly modernist style of the 1950s. It also displays the work of some of Ireland’s best contemporary furniture designers and leading wood turners.
Through accounts of times past, touching objects and reading about life during the periods in question, this exhibition traces the development of furniture in Ireland from 1600 through to the present day. It has accompanying interactive gallery which invites visitors to touch, examine, explore and learn about chair design over the past two hundred years.
This exhibition is free admission and on display at the National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks. It is located on the second floor in rooms five and six.
Furniture is displayed in room settings or “vignettes”, in order to give a sense of context to the Furniture Collection.
See genuine oak furniture and panelling from a typical seventeenth century Irish home.
Explore the refined splendour of furniture in Georgian Ireland.
Read about the high style of nineteenth century Irish furniture.
Explore twentieth century Irish furniture and modernist design in Ireland from 1900 onward.
See how Irish furniture designers look to future sustainability by working with ecologically friendly materials while using traditional tools and techniques.
The furniture collection at the Museum is not only Irish in origin but consists of an array of chairs, chests, tables, and cabinets from different countries.
Ireland has a rich heritage in clock-making stretching back to the 17th century, but very few examples have survived prior to 1700.