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The National Museum of Ireland & Trinity College
In July and August 2005, I spent two weeks in Ireland. Most of it was with a tour group via a public radio station, before I stayed at a Dublin hostel for three days.
In Ireland, I wrote about the Museum of Ireland “gold torques and such, Tara brooch.” So I’m adding details years later.
I vividly remember glass display cases containing bright, shiny, gold torques — so shiny you’d think they were new, not ancient and fished out of bogs. They’re beautiful. I seem to recall the tour guide explaining that torques would have been arranged down the front of a long robe. I thought they were worn around the neck. Or maybe the tour guide explained that these are possible ways of wearing them and historians/archeologists aren’t entirely sure.
One glass display case contained the Tara Brooch. I’ve always pictured it about an inch or two in diameter, but no, it’s huge! One glass display case contained the Tara Brooch. I’ve always pictured it about an inch or two in diameter, but no, it’s huge! It must be at least half a foot across — and I’m just referring to the circular part, not the long stabby part that would have been hidden inside the garment.
I imagined wearing the Tara brooch like a regular brooch and the lightweight cotton fabric of a shirt tearing under the weight of the brooch. But… the…