A new website featuring a collection of over 450 items of medieval furniture and artifacts housed at Bunratty Castle in Co Clare has just been published on-line today (Wednesday 19th July 06) at www.bunrattycollection.com by Shannon Heritage, the tourism subsidiary of Shannon Development.
“We are delighted to make this new website available to the general public. Over the past year or so Shannon Heritage has been working to catalogue the Gort Furniture Collection at Bunratty consistent with international museum standards. Superb images of each item have been added to create an interesting and accurate record of the Bunratty Castle contents. We hope as wide an audience as possible will visit and enjoy the site”, says Mr. Brian O’ Connell, Chairman, Shannon Heritage.
In September 2004 the Gort Furniture Trust received clearance from the Art Loss Register in London that none of the items in the Bunratty Castle medieval collection appeared on the list of items registered with them as having been stolen during the 1933-1945 period. In line with Best Practice Procedures Shannon Heritage in conjunction with the Gort Furniture Trust has now included the full record of the collection on the World Wide Web.
“It is hoped that the new website will open up access to this unique and important collection to as wide an audience as possible. Each of the items in the collection has its own web page and each page includes a high quality image of the item together with a variety of information consistent with the American Association of Museums method of collating information on artifacts”, says Mr. O’ Connell.
“The important issue of provenance of the items in the Bunratty collection is being continually addressed and is an ongoing project. The results will be included in the collection records and included on the website as they become available. This is an important landmark in the Bunratty project but there is still much to do in order to achieve deeper knowledge of the collection”, Mr. O’ Connell concluded.
Bunratty Castle is the most complete and authentically restored and furnished medieval castle in Ireland. Visitors to the Castle can enjoy the collection of medieval furniture and artifacts from 9.00 am daily with last admission to the castle at 4.00 pm.
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Nandi O’Sullivan
Senior Press Officer
Tel: +353 61 710259
Mobile: +353 86-2371510
Fax: 061 363180
E-mail: Click Here
