Galway City Museum has been allocated funding for an exciting new exhibition of silver and stone artifacts dating back to the town’s medieval history.
The museum has been awarded €13,875 under the Regional Museum Exhibitions Scheme 2023 for ‘Medieval Galway: Silver and Stone’.
This is a new exhibition that will focus on the craftsmanship of the time, with a display of silver and stone artefacts associated with the medieval town.
It will include new displays cases for the Galway Sword and Mace, symbols of the Crown which were used by Mayors in official duties for over two centuries.
The sword was crafted by local silversmiths in the early 17th century, with a blade taken from an older German fighting sword.
Its accompanying silver mace was made in Dublin during the 18th century, and bears the national insignias of England (rose), France (fleur-de-lis) Scotland (thistle) and Ireland (harp).
It also carries Galway’s coat of arms, and the Eyre family crest on behalf of Edward Eyre, who donated it to the city.
A total funding of €174,434 is being allocated to 16 museums under the 2023 scheme which was announced today.
Projects funded under this Scheme seek to enhance the cultural offering of museums, to encourage greater access to museums and to promote the use of museums as tourism resources in their locality or region.
Minister Catherine Martin said, “Our local and regional museums are an extremely important resource for accessing culture and heritage in towns and villages across the country, and I am very pleased to be able to support their renewal and development through the Regional Museum Exhibition Scheme.”
“Funding provided under this scheme allows local and regional bodies to continue to enhance their exhibitions, which improves the cultural offering for their communities and visitors.”
“The funding provided under this scheme over the years has allowed these cultural bodies to continue to enhance the presentation of their exhibitions and improve the cultural offering to the communities they serve.”
