Round Museum

In the early evening a purple thistle flower by the river catches light from a nearby walkway. It is the national flower of Scotland, the country's symbol of resilience and strength since it was adopted by King Alexander III in the mid-thirteenth century. Legend has it, during this time a Norse army came to conquer Scotland, planning a nighttime ambush to catch Scots Clansmen while sleeping. Creeping quietly without shoes, the Norse stepped upon thorny thistles and their cries awakened the Scots warriors and the invaders were defeated.

Look Around You
... That's the call to action that launched The Round Museum in 2016 and the guiding philosophy for the whole museum collection. It recognizes the power of the eye to provide vision and perception. And equally as important as "look around," is "look again" -- to contemplate the things we see, to ask obscure or obvious questions, to discover connections between one thing and another.

HAPPY NINTH ROUNDIVERSARY!


06.30.25

Between the Victorian Gothic style Turlough Park House and the modern Museum Galleries building, the metal sculpture “Portal” creates a bridge between eras. Also referred to as the “Circle of Life” it reflects the story of the site. The ‘Big House’ was built in 1865, centerpiece of the large Fitzgerald estate. The family were owners from the mid-seventeenth century until 1991, when it was purchased by County Mayo to be developed for the National Museum of Ireland’s large Folklife collection that exemplifies the country’s rural past and way of life that is almost vanished.

(Belfast City Hall Round) A spiral oculus lights the copper dome of Belfast City Hall, an ornately detailed Baroque Revival style building that is the civic headquarters of Belfast City Council in Northern Ireland. Located on Donegall Square in the heart of the City Centre, it was designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas and completed in 1906, with extensive use of Carrara, Pavonazzo and Brescia marbles and stained glass windows.

06.28.25

When you arrive at the Broadway Roundabout in Belfast, Northern Ireland, what should appear but a 100 ft diameter sphere rising in the middle of the highway?! Designed by Wolfgang Buttress in 2011, the RISE sculpture is a double Round — a geodesic sphere suspended inside a sphere that makes quite an impression.

Swinging 100ft above the sea, made up of planks strung between wires, this rope bridge brings you across a 60ft chasm to the island of Carrick-a-Rede or 'the rock in the road' in Northern Ireland. Beginning in 1755, fishermen erected a bridge so that they could reach salmon travelling in the watery 'rede' or 'road' in the sea below. Once there was only a single handrope. Yet the fishermen crossed it daily without any fear, carrying their catch and gear. When you cross the bridge you are also walking across the mouth of an ancient volcano that erupted over 60 million years ago.

There are many ways to prepare a potato. The Vintage Kitchen's Gratin of potato & leek roasted in a little iron skillet is one very delicious way.

06.25.25

For thousands of years much of County Monaghan and the surrounding area have been defined by borders of the land. The tools on display that people crafted and used tell a story of the Agricultural Revolution and how we have evolved over 6000 years from hunter gatherer tribes to settled farmers working the land.

Músaem Chontae Mhuineachain
Monaghan County Museum

06.24.25

"My soul. I summon to the winding ancient stair; Set all your mind upon the steep ascent.” To create a sense of challenge and anticipation W.B. Yeats couldn’t have said it better. So here, at The Winding Stair restaurant… above the book shop… formerly an art gallery, auction house, and tweed loom… you must ask yourself: When this Round, encrusted with breadcrumbs and resting on a cloud of garlic mayo, is cut open… how will it taste? Soulfully delicious, that’s how.

06.23.25

Ernest T. S. Walton was a 1927 graduate of Trinity College Dublin, later a Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, and a 1951 Nobel Prize winning physicist. In 1932, he and Sir John D. Cockcroft were the first to achieve controlled nuclear transmutation in a laboratory setting by bombarding lithium with protons and splitting the nucleus into two alpha particles. Their split atom verified Einstein’s E = mc2 theory of relativity. In 2012, the College commissioned a sculpture to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the pioneering experiment.