A group of students from our English school in Dublin visited Dublinia – the Viking and medieval museum. Dublin historians agree that the Vikings played the most important part in establishing Dublin as a town. A small settlement existed before the Vikings arrived to Dublin in the year 840. The Vikings always chose locations on rivers, bays and lakes so that they could use the water for transport and more importantly, protection from enemies! Dublin bay gave shelter and protection that made it the perfect place for Scandinavian Vikings to build a town in Ireland!
WHAT’S TO SEE AT DUBLINIA
The museum is divided into three sections. On the ground floor, it’s all about how the Vikings settled in Dublin. The next floor tells us about the arrival of the Anglo-Normans to Dublin, the building of Dublin Castle and how Dublin became a city of trade and commerce. Dublinia’s exhibition is cool because visitors are encouraged to pick up and examine the different objects around the museum. At the museum there is also the opportunity to enter huts and houses that are exactly how the houses were hundreds of years ago.
A SAD ENDING TO VIKING DUBLIN
One of the most interesting and sad parts of the exhibition comes at the end in the archaeology section. Unfortunately in the late 1970s the Dublin city authorities made the decision to build huge offices on the original site of the Viking settlement at Wood Quay in Dublin. Some of Dublin’s oldest history was lost during this construction and many Dubliners went to the streets to protest. Dublinia tells us this controversial story.