(Decorative Arts and History Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7)

We went to visit Collins’ Barracks in Dublin yesterday. I had never been. It’s just twenty minutes walk from O’Connell Street and right beside Heuston Train Station. It has free parking and free admission. We were there because I was searching for some button history and I heard the museum had a permanent exhibition of Irish clothes, jewellery and accessories. There wasn’t much on buttons but there was lots of other stuff.

(Quote from Eileen Gray)

There was a huge area dedicated to the  life and work of Eileen Gray. She was “an Irish woman who became one of the most influential designers and architects of the 20th century.” (from the brochure.) She was still designing and working on a project when she died at 98. She had a design shop in Paris in 1922, where she sold her furniture.

(This little book is about four inches high)

But the exhibit that had the biggest impact on me was in a glass case with no description or explanation. It seemed to be from a mother to her now dead son, Will, telling him how much she loved him and how much she misses him. He died on the 22nd of August 1776, he was almost a year old. It is sometimes difficult to connect with the characters of history, with their odd clothes and unfamiliar lifestyle, but I have no difficulty connecting with Will’s mother.

We’ll be back, Mairead.