DUBLIN - Ireland 2014 - page 118

and get to know artists you may not have heard of before. Visit the National Portrait
Gallery on the mezzanine level for an insight into the great personalities of Ireland.
You'll find European masterworks on the top floor, including a rare Vermeer (one of only
30-some known works by the Dutch artist), a classic Caravaggio (master of chiaroscuro
and dramatic lighting), a Monet riverscape, and an early Cubist Picasso still life.
National Museum: Natural History
Called “the dead zoo” by Dubliners, this cramped collection of stuffed exotic animals
comes across like the locker room on Noah's Ark. But if you're into beaks, bones, bugs,
andboars,thisVictorian relic isforyou.Standing tall aboveaseaoftaxidermy istheregal
skeleton of a giant Irish elk from the last Ice Age; it dwarfs a modern moose. The earnest
displays need a new home, and a fund-raising effort is under way.
Cost and Hours: Free, Tue-Sat 10:00-17:00, Sun 14:00-17:00, closed Mon, Merrion
Square West, tel. [phone], www.museum.ie .
National Library
Literature holds a lofty place in the Irish psyche. To feel the fire-and-ice pulse of Ireland's
most influential poet, visit the W. B. Yeats exhibit in the library basement. This space was
originally intended to host rotating exhibits, but the display on the life of Yeats proved so
popular it became permanent. The artifacts flesh out the very human passions of this poet
and playwright, with samples of his handwritten manuscripts and surprisingly interesting
minidocumentaries of the times he lived in. Upstairs, you can get help making use of lib-
rary records to trace your genealogy.
Cost and Hours: Free; Mon-Wed 9:30-19:30, Thu-Sat 9:30-17:00, closed Sun; Yeats
tours Wed at 13:00 and Sat at 15:00; café, tel. [phone], 2-3 Kildare Street, www.nli.ie .
Merrion Square and Nearby
▲ Merrion Square
Laid out in 1762, this square is ringed by elegant Georgian houses decorated with fine
doors—a Dublin trademark. (If you're inspired by the ornate knobs and knockers, there's
a shop by that name on nearby Nassau Street.) The park, once the exclusive domain of the
residents, is now a delightful public escape and ideal for a picnic. To learn what “snog-
ging” is, walk through the park on a sunny day, when it's full of smooching lovers. Oscar
Wilde, lounging wittily on a boulder on the corner nearest the town center and surrounded
by his clever quotes, provides a fun photo op (see photo on here ) .