Amazon.com description: Product Description: This thoroughly researched, far-reaching book examines two key aspects of the museum tradition in Ireland: the history of the museum, including its place in society and associated notions of nationhood; and the future of the museum as a focus of learning and enjoyment for all members of society. As such, it represents a new departure in literature on this subject, pushing the analysis further and throwing the net wider to include many noted international museums and galleries.

The author brings museum buildings and their contents to life in a very new way. The stories behind the collections make for fascinating reading. The reader quickly begins to appreciate the nature of the cultural space provided by the museum/gallery and to understand that beyond housing the collections for which they were created, these spaces are far more than architecture and objets d’art—they are a direct reflection of social mores in any given period, of artistic trends and counter-trends, of the politics of a nation and of the aspirations of those who use culture for various agenda.

Marie Bourke’s book is the first of its kind, providing an erudite but accessible monograph on the history of the museum/gallery in Ireland within an international context, while at the same time making a strong case for the future viability of those spaces in the age of global technology.