If the phrase “two-headed cow” makes you lean forward rather than recoil, the Museum of Curiosities is your kind of place. Tucked away in Dublin’s city centre, this small but brilliantly curated museum is home to one of the most wonderfully bizarre collections you will find anywhere in Ireland.
The visit begins with a brief introduction from staff who give you the backstory on the museum and its most notable artefacts. Then you are set loose to explore at your own pace. The exhibits range from the genuinely unsettling, including haunted dolls with documented histories and mummified oddities, to the fascinatingly weird, such as Victorian-era medical devices that make modern dentistry look positively pleasant. Unusual taxidermy, voodoo dolls and gothic curiosities fill every corner.
At just EUR17 and about an hour of your time, it is one of Dublin’s best-value attractions and a refreshing break from the usual round of cathedrals and castles. Lovers of the macabre and the gothic will be absolutely in their element, and even the squeamish will find themselves drawn in by the stories behind each exhibit.
