State Heraldic Museum

The State Heraldic Museum on Kildare Street in Dublin was founded in 1909 and, until its closure in 2007, was one of the oldest of its kind in the world. It was housed in part of the building occupied by the Chief Herald of Ireland, specifically in the former coffee room of the Kildare Street Club. The collection featured, among other things, coats of arms of corporations and cities as well as heraldic banners of the Chiefs of the Name. Visitors could also see the arms of Ireland that once hung in Parliament, a police notice about the 1907 theft of the Irish Crown Jewels, the funeral escutcheon of Daniel O'Connell, and the purse of the Irish Lord Chancellor. After the museum closed, the exhibits were to make way for an exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls.