Celebration Time

Last Tuesday, May 14th, we celebrated the anniversary of one of our longest employees, Gerry, who is working for Dublinia 20 years.

Gerry was presented with framed pictures of his time here, tickets and a card to mark the occasion. I noticed everyone that wrote one the card mentioned his funny humour and jokes. Gerry, who would always have a joke at the tip of his tongue, could not manage a joke on the night, he was that overwhelmed with surprise.

The staff had gathered in secret, in the Coffee shop along with his wife, who he met while she completed the Heritage course we run here, to welcome and surprise Gerry!

Asking Gerry a few questions on his 20 years at Dublinia, this is what he said:

What is you most treasured memory/ funniest moment from Dublinia?

Most Treasured Memory: I met Giovanna, my wife.

Funniest Moment: I was working in the shop during Ireland’s Celtic Tiger. A very distressed visitor came in and asked if we had or knew where they could buy a picture or postcard of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger.

What for you has been the biggest change in Dublinia since you started?

The big increase in the number of visitors from so many different countries all over the world. When we first opened domestic tourist’s made up the majority of our visitor number’s.

What’s your favourite part of the exhibition?

The Scale Model, a reconstruction of what Medieval Dublin would have looked like.

Tell us a joke.

A man is walking down a street with a monkey on a lead. Another man stops him and asks: ‘Where did you get the monkey?’ The first man says ‘I found him in my garden this morning’. Second man says, ‘do you not think you should bring him to the zoo?’ The first man then says ‘I brought him to the zoo this morning, now I’m bringing him to the cinema’! 

A Little Day Trip

This is our first blog ever and of the summer!

Will it be good, that’s anyone’s guess? But what I do know everything’s worth a try at least once!

A blog about ALL things Viking, Medieval and Archaeological. A blog about the daily/weekly happenings at Dublinia.

For instance, this morning Sheila (our curator) and I (Dympna, marketing intern) went down to the National Museum at Collins Barracks to collect the molecular sieves from their Conservation Lab that keep our artefacts in the cases, regulated at the relative humidity levels and temperature.

What I seen was little smooth stones and what looked like tiny jewels.

 

Molecular Sieves

 

But that is what they really look like. Sheila who used to be an archaeologist, informed me and Aaron, another staff member, when questioned about what they do for the artefacts, that they take all the moisture out of the air and help to protect the artefacts.

I found it astonishing, that artefact’s hundreds of thousands years old would need, what I thought was a small process, such a small amount of effort to keep them the way they are.  Although there is other parts to the ‘equation’ as some might call it like keeping the outside temperature balanced with the temperature inside the glass case and having the little ‘clocks’ to show to demonstrate this.

Not all artefacts are the same and they all require a different ‘treatment’ as such. And sometimes it’s as simple as making sure the air is not too dry or there is enough moisture in the air.

I hope you enjoy my first little blog and somehow may have interested you!

Please feel free to comment and any feedback or idea would be greatly appreciated!