EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum
Entrance to EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum
Location within Central Dublin
Former name EPIC Ireland
Established 2016
Location CHQ Custom House Quay
Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates 53°20′53″N 6°14′53″W / 53.348°N 6.248°W / 53.348; -6.248Coordinates: 53°20′53″N 6°14′53″W / 53.348°N 6.248°W / 53.348; -6.248
Type History
Founder Neville Isdell
Public transit access Luas (Red Line), George's Dock stop, DART (Pearse Station, Tara Street Station), Irish Rail (Connolly Station)
Nearest car park ParkRite IFSC
Website epicchq.com

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum is an immersive, interactive museum located in Dublin's Docklands about the history of the Irish diaspora and emigration to other countries.

Foundation

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum is a privately owned museum, founded by Neville Isdell, former chairman and Chief Executive of The Coca-Cola Company, who was born in County Down and moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) aged 10 in the 1950s.[1] EPIC was officially opened by Neville Isdell and former President of Ireland Mary Robinson on 6 May 2016.[2]

The museum is located in the vaults of CHQ, a listed building originally known as Stack A, built in 1820 by John Rennie and completed by Thomas Telford and used as a bonded customs warehouse for tobacco and wine.[3] CHQ was sympathetically conserved and restored by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority in the early 2000s and now features a classic glass wall on its southern end based on a structural engineering design created by Peter Rice of Ove Arup/RFR.[4]

Galleries

The exhibition is made up of twenty galleries which are each individually themed, and fall under the headings of Migration (Galleries 1-2), Motivation (Galleries 4-7), Influence (Galleries 8-18) and Diaspora Today (Galleries 19-20).[5]

Migration

A impressions of the island of Ireland, migration patterns from Ireland since 500AD.

Motivation

Themes include religious missionary work, the Irish famine, religious and social persecution, criminal transportation, and the effects of Irish involvement in foreign conflicts. Displays include a series of video testimonies from six Irish emigrants, who give their reasons for leaving the island and their hopes for the future. Includes Thomas Quinn,[6] who emigrated from Strokestown, Co. Roscommon, in 1847 at age six to begin a new life in Canada.

Influence

Includes notable Irish immigrants in the world of business, sports, science and inventors, political leaders and thinkers, music, dance and entertainment, art and fashion, writing and storytelling, and eating and drinking. Other cultural influences featured include an interactive 'rogues gallery' of troublemakers with Irish heritage, and worldwide festivals and celebrations of Irish culture.

Exhibition content and design

In 2015, an advisory group was assembled to consult on the development of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum.[7] The content for the exhibition was drawn up in consultation with a panel of academic and expert advisors, including Harry Bradshaw, Dr John Cronin, Catriona Crowe, Mark Duncan, Dr Eibhlín Evans, Rob Hartnett, Professor Eugene Kennedy, Professor J Joseph Lee, Ruán Magan, Mary Mulvihill, Professor Justin O'Brien, Sean O Mordha and Paul Rouse.

The exhibition was designed by Event Communications.

Senior management

EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum is owned by founder Neville Isdell. The managing director is Mervyn Greene.[8]

The Irish Family History Centre

The Irish Family History Centre is located in the CHQ and is part of the EPIC experience. Visitors can consult with genealogists and access digitised records at workstations.

References

  1. ↑ "Businessman Neville Isdell: Money is not a motivator, but it is how you keep score in life". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "'Story of 70 million Irish' told at new Dublin visitor centre". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "History". chq.ie. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Irish visionary who redesigned architecture". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Experience EPIC Museum | Irish Culture Museum in Dublin". EPIC. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  6. ↑ King, Jason. "Quinn and Tighe Siblings | Irish Famine Orphan Profiles and Stories". Irish Famine Archive. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Isdell assembles advisory group for CHQ tourism project". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  8. ↑ "'We're not a competitor to other Dublin attractions - we're adding to the attractiveness of Dublin'". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 April 2017.

Further reading

  • Bunbury, Turtle[1] and Event Communications, Epic Ireland: The Journey of a People, ISBN 978-2-7468-3397-5
  1. ↑ "Turtle Bunbury - Award-winning travel writer, historian and author based in Ireland". turtlebunbury.com. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
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