June 9, 2009
The day started out similar to yesterday. We were introduced to the people who found our internships and were told about the interviews with our potential employers. The internship was about 95% guaranteed, but there are ways to blow the opportunity. Apparently, interns have failed to pass the interview or have been fired from their job. That made us nervous - it would be absolutely horrible to come 4000 miles away to a foreign country, only to fail your interview or lose your job.
So after the introductions, we continued on with our Irish history class. We learned about the attempts of the English to control the island with plantations of English (and more importantly, Protestant) settlers. We also watched a quick documentary on Oliver Cromwell, the leader of Britain after the beheading of Charles I. The movie focused on his attempts to subdue the Irish people with brutal military strength. As a result, his name is hated throughout Ireland and he created a legacy of bitterness against the English that continued to fester for many centuries after.
After class and lunch ended, we headed out to the National Museum of Ireland, which sits to the direct left of Leinster House. The museum was absolutely fascinating - they had two floors, only one of which I was able to tour.
To enter the museum, visitors must pass through the (conveniently) located museum shop.
The ceiling of the museum shop. No pictures were allowed inside the museum, but this came out well (sort of).
The ground floor of the museum had the following exhibitions:
1) Pre-Historic Ireland
2) Ireland's Gold (Ór)
3) The Treasury
4) Kingship & Sacrifice
5) Rites of Passage at Tara
The exhibition on pre-historic Ireland contained many old relics: beautifully crafted swords, daggers, axes, horn, shields, etc. It also contained a very long 4,500 year old longboat constructed from the trunk of an oak(?) tree.
The exhibition of Ireland's Gold was by far my favorite. The craftsmanship of Irish goldsmiths was absolutely stunning. I couldn't take any pictures, but here are some from the Internet.
These are both called torcs. The Celts hammered gold, silver, bronze, and other metals to create ornaments worn on the arms, waist, neck, etc.
There are many torcs, such as the one in the first picture, at the museum. They ranged from all different sizes - some being quite small (like a choker) and others having a diameter of at least one foot. The museum also had matching sets - a necklace, bracelets, and earrings all made in the same style. They were all quite beautiful.
There were also torcs, such as the one in the second picture, at the exhibition. While it is not visible in the picture, the torc is actually quite thin. The goldsmiths hammered the gold into thin pieces and decorated them with geometric patterns (mostly triangles and rectangles). The detail was incredible and it is a wonder that goldsmiths managed to create such jewelry thousands of years ago.
http://www.unc.edu/celtic/catalogue/torc/Torcs.html
It contains much more information (some of which I saw at the museum), but it would be too time consuming to summarize that information here. But I have posted the link if you wish to know more.
The next exhibition I visited was the Rites of Passage at Tara. The Hill of Tara (Teamhair na Rí or Hill of the Kings) is an ancient and large archaeological complex that is located in County Meath, just west of Dublin. The Hill of Tara was the seat of the High King of Ireland (Árd Rí na hÉireann) and is associated with sacral kingship rituals. It was here that the High King entered a symbolic marriage with the land. If the marriage was successful, the lands would prosper and there would be bountiful crops and healthy livestock.
It is also close to Newgrange, a prehistoric passage tomb built before the pyramids and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The exhibition went into much detail of the Mound of the Hostages, another passage tomb, located on the Hill of Tara. I don't remember much of this exhibition except for small items excavated from the site. I do plan to visit both the Hill of Tara and Newgrange, so lookout for actual pictures of both sites later.
The exhibition, The Treasury, contained religious items from the Celtic Iron Age to the Middle Ages. This exhibition houses the Ardagh Chalice, the Brooch of Tara, and other spectacular items. If you Google these words, you should be able to see pictures of them.
The last exhibit, Kingship & Sacrifice, was perhaps the most fascinating, yet disturbing display I have ever seen. The exhibition contained remarkably preserved bog bodies dated to the Bronze and Iron Ages. The bogs of Ireland (and other places) preserve the bodies due to their chemical make-up. Because the bodies are so well preserved, the hair, facial expressions, and the last meal of the person are sometimes still remaining. The chemicals in the bog also turn the skin color into a dark brown.
Most of the people found in the bogs were members of the upper class and had been murdered in quite horrific ways. Archaeologists suspect that they were either human sacrifices made to the Celtic gods or they were executed for a criminal act.
The exhibition was interesting, but I felt uneasy while walking through it. The bodies were gruesome to look at - some had been decapitated, others were missing the lower half of their bodies. In some ways it felt like sacrilege - these bodies were dug up from their resting places to be placed in a glass box for visitors to gawk at.
The exhibition was controversial at first, so the bodies are now surrounded by a circular wall which visitor must enter through to view the bodies. All in all, it was interesting and creepy, and I don't think I want to see them again.
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