Reflections on Resilience

Our lives have changed in hitherto unexpected ways in recent times. As a society, as families and as individuals, we have had to draw upon our own wellsprings of resilience as old certainties are tested and new challenges emerge.
At the National Museum of Ireland we have asked our team to reflect on our current shared resilience in the face of this challenge, and examined our national collection through this lens.
Human resilience is as old as history itself, and in examining the theme we have selected a range of objects and specimens – some well-known, many less so and many not on display but from our reserve collections. These objects tell their own stories of resilience, endurance and hope, and we hope they provide a moment for reflection in these challenging times.