Roadmap for reopening Cultural Institutions unveiled

The reopening of National Cultural Institutions is effect from June 29- six in total- while the Irish Museum of Modern Art will reopen from June 30.

As part of the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, six of our National Cultural Institutions will be reopening either fully or partly to the public.

The reopening of National Cultural Institutions is effect from June 29- six in total- while the Irish Museum of Modern Art will reopen from June 30.

The six include The National Museum of Ireland (Decorative Arts & History, Collins Barracks, and Country Life, Turlough Park); Crawford Art Gallery Cork; Chester Beatty; National Library of Ireland; National Archives; and the National Gallery of Ireland.

The National Museum of Ireland’s Natural History Museum and Archaeology Museum will reopen on July 20, while the National Concert Hall and the Abbey Theatre will reopen at a later date.

Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, welcomed the reopening of National Cultural Institutions as part of Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business.

“I am delighted that six of our National Cultural Institutions will be reopening to the public either fully or partly from next Monday while a seventh - the Irish Museum of Modern Art - will reopen on Tuesday. Since the lockdown began on 12 March our National Cultural Institutions have done a wonderful job in responding to the Covid crisis by providing online content of the highest quality on their websites. Clearly this is no substitute for being able to visit a gallery, library or museum itself and I commend all of the institutions for all of their hard work in enabling this to happen!” she said.

The Minister further commented that the world “as we know it has changed dramatically” since the Covid crisis and cultural institutions have also had to take measures to ensure that both visitors and staff will remain safe following reopening. While this may mean that in the short term not all of the collections or galleries will be available to visitors, she still believes that visits to the institutions will remain a “very rewarding experience”.