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Ark Children's Cultural Centre
Aimed at youngsters between the ages of three and 14, the Ark is enormously popular - and perpetually booked out. The centre runs activities aimed at stimulating children's interests in science, the environment and the arts, and has an open-air stage for summer events.
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Bram Stoker Dracula Experience
Abraham (Bram) Stoker (1847-1912) was born and raised at 15 Marino Cres, in the pretty seaside suburb of Clontarf, so it makes perfect sense that the local fitness club should be home to a museum dedicated to the author's life and, particularly, to his most memorable creation. The sight of Dublin's suburbanites struggling to fend off the effects of age and gravity on a Stairmaster may be scary enough, but Bram Stoker's imagination was just that little bit more extreme.
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Chester Beatty Library
Book of Kells , shmells... the Chester Beatty Library is not just the best museum in Ireland, but one of the best in Europe. This extraordinary collection, lovingly and expertly gathered by New York mining magnate Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968) - a man of exceedingly good taste - is breathtakingly beautiful and virtually guaranteed to impress.
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Croke Park & GAA Museum
Uniquely important in Irish culture, the magnificent stadium at 'Croker' is the fabulous fortress that protects the sanctity and spirit of Gaelic games in Ireland, as well as being the administrative HQ of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the body that governs them. Sound a little hyperbolic? Well, the GAA considers itself not just the governing body of a bunch of Irish games, but the stout defender of a cultural identity that is ingrained in Ireland's sense of self.
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Douglas Hyde Gallery
One of Trinity College's top treats for the discerning tourist, is the Douglas Hyde Gallery; its entrance is on Nassau St. This is one of the country's leading contemporary galleries, and hosts regularly rotating shows presenting the works of top-class Irish and international artists across a wide range of media. It's well worth checking out.
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Dublin Writers Museum
Memorabilia aplenty and lots of literary ephemera line the walls and display cabinets of this elegant museum devoted to preserving the city's rich literary tradition.
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Dvblinia
Inside what was once the Synod Hall, added to Christ Church Cathedral during its late-19th-century restoration, this is a lively and kitschy attempt to bring medieval Dublin to life using models, music, streetscapes and interactive displays. The ground floor has wax models depicting 10 episodes in Dublin's history, explained in a choice of five languages through headsets.
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Gallery Of Photography
This small gallery devoted to the photograph is set in a light and airy three-level space overlooking Meeting House Sq and features a constantly changing menu of local and international work. It's a little too small to be considered a really good gallery, but the downstairs shop is well-stocked with all manner of photographic tomes and manuals.
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Garda Museum
The Norman Record Tower, which has 5m-thick walls, houses the Garda Museum, which follows the history of the Irish police force. It doesn't have all that much worth protecting, but the views are fab (ring the bell for entry). On your right is the Georgian Treasury Building, the oldest office block in Dublin, and behind you, yikes, is the uglier-than-sin Revenue Commissioners Building of 1960.
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Hugh Lane Gallery
Whatever reputation Dublin may have as a repository of top class art is in large part due to the collection at this magnificent gallery, which is not only home to works by some of the supernovas in the Impressionist firmament, but where you'll find one of the most singular exhibitions to be seen anywhere: the actual studio of one of the 20th century's most famous artists, Francis Bacon.
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Irish Writers Centre
While the Dublin Writer's Museum focuses on the dearly departed, the Irish Writers Centre next door provides a meeting and working place for their living successors.
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Irish-Jewish Museum
Housed in an old synagogue, this museum recounts the history and cultural heritage of Ireland's small but prolific Jewish community. It was opened in 1985 by the Belfast-born, then-Israeli president, Chaim Herzog. The various memorabilia includes photographs, paintings, certificates, books and other artefacts.
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James Joyce Centre
More study centre than museum, casual Joyceans may be disappointed by the small cache of Joyce-related items in this beautifully restored Georgian home. But the centre has more than just texts and papers for Joycean scholars; there's a regular programme of events, films and lectures, walking tours of Joyce's haunts, photographs, relics and fascinating facts.
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Marsh's Library
Marsh's Library is the oldest public library in Ireland, opening in 1707 - it has changed little since then. Its collection numbers over 25,000 books, as well as maps, Latin manuscripts and incunabula (books printed before 1501).
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National Archives
The National Archives are a potential source of genealogical information.
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National Gallery
A stunning Caravaggio and a whole room full of Ireland's pre-eminent artist, Jack B Yeats, are just a couple of stand-out highlights from this fine collection, amassed by the state since 1854. Its original collection has grown, mainly through bequests, to around 12,500 artworks, including oils, watercolours, drawings, paints and sculptures.
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National Library & Genealogical Office
Next door to Leinster House, the suitably sedate National Library was built from 1884 to 1890, at the same time and to a similar design as the National Museum, by Sir Thomas Newenham Deane. Its extensive collection has many valuable early manuscripts, first editions, maps and other items of interest. Parts of the library are open to the public, including the domed reading room where Stephen Dedalus expounded his views on Shakespeare in Ulysses .
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National Museum - Archaeology & History
The National Museum is home to a fabulous bounty of Bronze Age gold, Iron Age Celtic metalwork, Viking artefacts and impressive ancient Egyptian relics. The Palladian-style Victorian building is a fine setting for the collection, with its 18m (62ft) domed rotunda, marble columns and mosaic floors.
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National Museum Of Ireland - Decorative Arts & History
No wonder the British army were so reluctant to pull out of Ireland, when they were occupying this magnificent space, the oldest army barracks in Europe. The building - the museum bit can wait - was completed in 1704 according to the design of Thomas Burgh, whose CV also includes the Old Library in Trinity College and St Michan's Church. Its central square held six entire regiments and is a truly awesome space, surrounded by arcaded colonnades and blocks linked by walking bridges.
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National Photographic Archives
What should be a wonderful resource putting a face on all facets of Irish history is actually a sadly disappointing archive of photographs taken from the 19th century onwards. Its visitor-friendly catalogue is computer accessible and the eager staff are always willing to help with queries, but the available material is not nearly as extensive as we'd hoped.
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National Print Museum
You don't have to be into printing to enjoy this quirky little museum, where personalised guided tours are offered in a delightfully casual and compelling way. First watch a video relating to printing and its place in Irish history, then take a wander amid the smell of ink and metal, and through the various antique presses that are still worked for small jobs by a couple of retired printers doing it for the love of the craft.
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Natural History Museum
Dusty, weird and utterly compelling, this window into Victorian times has barely changed since Scottish explorer Dr David Livingstone opened it in 1857. The creaking interior gives way to an overwhelming display of stuffed animals and mounted heads, crammed in like something from a Hitchcock movie. Of the two million species on display in the museum, many are long extinct.
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Number Twenty-Nine
In an effort to at least partly atone for its sins against Dublin's Georgian heritage - it broke up Europe's most perfect Georgian row to build its headquarters - the ESB preserved and restored this home to give an impression of genteel family life in the city at the beginning of the 18th century. From the rat-traps in the kitchen basement to the handmade wallpaper and Georgian cabinets, the attention to detail is impressive, but the regular tours (dependent on numbers) are disappointingly dry.
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Old Library
If you are following the less studious-looking throng at Trinity College, you'll find yourself magnetically drawn south of Library Sq to the Old Library, home to Trinity's prize possession and biggest crowd-puller, the astonishingly beautiful Book of Kells.
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Original Print Gallery
This gallery specialises in original, limited-edition prints, including etchings, lithographs and silk-screens, mostly by Irish artists.
