MoLI – Museum of Literature Ireland — Attraction in Dublin

The Museum of Literature Ireland (Irish: Músaem Litríochta na hÉireann), branded MoLI in an homage to Molly Bloom, is a literary museum in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in September 2019. The museum is a partnership between the National Library of Ireland and University College Dublin (UCD). It is located in UCD's Newman House in St Stephen's Green. It holds a permanent collection of James Joyce-related material, including his "Copy No. 1" of Ulysses,[5] and revolving exhibitions on other Irish literary figures. With a range of audio and immersive displays, it has been nominated for and won a number of awards for design and architecture.

The idea of a literary centre at Newman House began with a discussion between Eamonn Ceannt, Bursar / Vice-President for Finance and Regulation of University College Dublin, and a representative of the National Library of Ireland, at Bewley's Café. The library no longer had a major display of its James Joyce materials, and the museum was originally conceived as an exposition of the work of Joyce, to be called Ulysses House. Joyce himself had studied at both Newman House and the National Library. The charitable foundation of Martin Naughton and his wife funded an initial study, and after discussion with Failte Ireland, which offered to join funding to the tune of 2.5 million euro, the concept was expanded to take in Irish literature in general. The Naughtons added further significant funding, amounting to nearly half the total, and UCD raised 2.5 million euro of additional funds. In formulating a name for the expanded project, a Joycean link was deemed important, so a name was devised, the acronym of which would relate to his work - hence MoLI (pronounced "Molly") in homage to Molly Bloom.

The academic lead was UCD's Professor of Anglo-Irish Literature, Margaret Kelleher. The museum architectural project began in 2012, and design was worked on from 2014, based on a conversion of the Newman House complex, the original home of University College Dublin, on St Stephen's Green. The design was developed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, and the architectural work is by Scott Tallon Walker. Emphasis was placed on auditory material and potential for visitor interaction.

The construction project budget was just over 6 million euro, for a floor area of 3,600 m2 (39,000 sq ft), of which about 500 m2 (5,400 sq ft) was new building, including a mezzanine addition. A major part of the work was the development of a museum-grade central stairway, a lift and modern fire escape provisions. The overall project cost over 11 million euro.

The museum's first director is Simon O'Connor, who previously worked as part of the founding team of The Little Museum of Dublin.

Originally planned to open in the spring of 2019, MoLI was launched with an evening opening on Culture Night, 20 September 2019, attended by the Director of the National Library and the President of UCD, with general opening from the following day, 10:30 am to 6 pm daily, with late opening on Thursdays. Admission is paid.

Newman House is a complex of two Georgian houses and the original university Aula Maxima (Great Hall), and all of this space, with some new "insertions", is used for the museum. MoLI is laid out over three floors, each with a theme. The ground floor is themed place and contains immersive displays, the first voice and the second inspiration, which includes an area for visitors to produce...

I will be honest that I left this place quite disappointed. Basically the museum is mostly about James Joyce, which would be ok if there wasn't already one in Dublin!

I was expecting a more thorough history of Irish literature and stories about different authors but received almost none. Almost cause the first room was dedicated to different authors but... It was there only cause a Museum Of Irish Writers shut down and they got few of theirs collections.

There was almost nothing about the importance of Irish writers and if was not interested in that subject before I highly doubt I would notice Seamus Heaney, G. B. Shaw or others. Jonathan Swift was not mentioned once! (Although I admit I do nat fancy him, he should be at least mentioned in IRISH Literature Museum).

There was a small exhibition about modern artists and I hoped to buy some of their books as they had a bookshop and sounded interesting but well... Couldn't find them there...

The only thing interesting is the first copy of Joyce's Ulysses and map of Dublin with places mentioned by... Guess... Joyce.

Oh, and guided tour although only 3 euros or so more expensive is a wate of money. The guide will basically tell you: this is room about this and this, have a 5 min to go through ot by yourself and meet in you in the next room and so you go on...

Very...

Ii would give it a much higher rating if it weren't because I felt fooled for paying a more expensive ticket for a guided tour which (in our case) wasn't worh the money. They appointed us not a real guide but a voluntary who knew next to nothing about how to do it.

If you book a guided tour, make sure you are doing it with a real guide

The museum itself is an interesting place to visit. I would rate it higher if it weren't for the bad experience we had. We booked and paid a more expensive admission ticket because we wanted a guided tour (which we were really looking forward to). Sadly, we were really dissapointed when we saw our guide was a voluntary girl who was just reading notes and speaking at such a low volume that we weren't able to hear anything properly. After our small group there was another guided tour with a true guide who was confidently talking to the visitors and we saw everyone was having a good experience. We felt terribly ridiculous for having paid extra money in order to receive such a bad experience. In the end the best we could do was just to quit the tour, go downstairs, have a warm drink and start the visit from the beginning just on our own. It was...