Irish Museum of Modern Art

The Royal Hospital Kilmainham was built between 1680 and 1684 to designs by William Robinson as a home for retired soldiers, modelled on Les Invalides in Paris and predating Chelsea Hospital in London. It is the oldest classical building in Ireland and was restored in the 1980s, opening as IMMA in 1991. The conversion is deliberately light - white galleries inside the historic rooms, with the baroque chapel and its papier-mache ceiling kept intact and open. The collection covers Irish and international art since the 1940s and the programme is exhibition-led, so what is showing changes substantially through the year. The grounds run to about twenty-two hectares with a formal seventeenth-century garden, a meadow, and Bully's Acre, one of Dublin's oldest burial grounds, in a corner. Entry is free apart from some ticketed shows, and the museum closes on Mondays.

History

The collector Gordon Lambert told the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, that he would give his collection if the state set up a gallery, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art was established in 1990 and opened on 25 May 1991; its first director, Declan McGonagle, served for ten years (Wikipedia, Irish Museum of Modern Art).

Highlights

• The Royal Hospital - Ireland's oldest classical building, from 1680.
• The baroque chapel - with its papier-mache ceiling, open to visitors.
• The exhibition programme - changing shows of Irish and international art.
• The grounds - formal gardens, meadow and Bully's Acre burial ground.

When to go

Any season for the galleries; April to October for the grounds. Closed Mondays. What is on changes several times a year - check the current programme.

Before you go

Exhibition-led, so the permanent collection is only partly on show and varies. Closed Mondays. It is a walk or bus ride from the city centre. Some exhibitions carry a separate charge.

Nearby

Kilmainham Gaol is a short walk; the Phoenix Park is north across the river.

Key facts