HUNT MUSEUM – LIMERICK
Arts and Antiquity Collection on the River Shannon
The
Hunt Museum in Ireland’s third largest city of
Limerick exhibits one of the most impressive private collections of art
and antiquities in Europe. The museum is located in the 18th Century
former Customs
House on Rutland Street along the Shannon River Quay in the center of Limerick,
where the collection moved to a permanent home in 1997 from a temporary
home at Limerick University . The Hunt Museum collection houses more
than 2,000
artifacts and art objects from the neo-lithic stone age of Ireland, medieval
Celtic periods, the age of Eqyptian Pharos, to masterworks by Leonardo
da Vinci and Renoir.
The collection didn’t
start out as a museum, but assembled over years of collection by
John and Martha Hunt. John
Hunt was
not Irish, born in London in 1900 where he studied medicine and architecture
before opening an antique store in Bury Street. Gertrude was German from
Mannheim and they met in London in the 1930s. As advisors to other collectors
like William Randolph Hearst, the Aga Khan and to Sotheby’s, the
Hunts began to amass more unique items, eventually filling the home in
Howth, near
Dublin they moved to in the 1950s. John Hunt as a medieval expert was instrumental
in advising in the restoration of Bunratty Castle, near Limerick (see Bunratty
Castle and Folk Park).
The Customs House home
of the Hunt Museum is a beautiful piece of artful architecture in itself,
built in 1765 with an elegant Palladian façade
designed by Italian archiutect Davis Ducart. The building originally housed
the Customs and Excise offices for the 18th port quays of Limerick and
the Potato Market (now a parking lot and swap meet mall). In the 1840s
a Penny
Post Office was added in the building as part of the Irish postal system.
The customs collectors remained until 1993 when the building was completely
restored to house the Hunt Collection after it was donated to the “People
of Ireland” by the Hunt Family. Significant items on display in the
three floors of exhibits include the 9th century medieval Celtic bronze and
enamel Antrim Cross, a sculpture by Da Vinci of a rearing horse used as a
scale model for a larger bronze, the Cashel Bell (see Rock
of Cashel), cross
of Mary Queen of Scots and the royal seal of Charles I, a large collection
religious art and relics, arms and armor, jewelery, and decorative pottery
and sculpture.
Visiting the Hunt Museum
A
visit to the Hunt Museum can be combined with King John’s Castle
in Limerick (see King
John’s Castle) and the medieval cathedral of
St Mary's a short stroll away. The quays along the river bank offer outdoor
restaurants and bars and fill with local and Irish tourists on sunny weekends.
The museum has its own Ducart’s Restaurant which looks out on the
Shannon River. The Hunt Museum is open all year. Opening hours are Monday
to Saturday
10am to 5pm and Sundays 2pm to 5pm. You can visit the museum for free on
Sundays (see Free
Things to Do In Ireland) otherwise admission is €8
for adults, €6.25 for seniors and students and V4.25 for children.
A Family ticket is available for €18 and a Hunt Museum Treasure Trail
helps kids discover the museum’s journey through history. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Hunt
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SEE ALSO:
DRIVING
IRELAND'S SCENIC COUNTRYSIDE
DUNGUAIRE CASTLE - MEDIEVAL BANQUETS
COLLINS BARRACKS - DECORATIVE ARTS - DUBLIN
THE
IRISH NATIONAL STUD FARM
BOOK
OF KELLS TRINITY LIBRARY- DUBLIN
