Tonight at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Director of the New Acropolis Museum Dimitrios Pandermalis will hold a what promises to be a fascinating lecture. 'Collections present and absent at the New Acropolis Museum, Athens' will no doubt touch on the 'missing marbles', the Parthenon Friezes currently held in the British Museum. Will Pandermalis launch another call for their return? Brian Dolan will be there to find out for Heritage Key. (update: the lecture) The lecture is organised by the IMA - Irish Museums Association - and will start at 18h30.
Two bog workers in the Irish county of Kildare – John Fitzharris and Martin Lane – made a remarkable discovery when harrowing one day last May. They spotted a strange white streak in the dark brown peat. “We got down to have a look,” said Fitzharris, speaking to the Leinster Leader. “We knelt down and felt something hard and started to dig it out with our bare hands. We could smell it. And it was attracting crows.”
It turned out to be an oak barrel, cut from a tree trunk, full of 3,000 year old butter. “We couldn’t believe it,” added Lane.
The National Museum of Ireland is Ireland's state museum. It holds a large collection of artefacts, divided under the areas of archaeology, decorative arts and history, country life and natural history, with a strong Irish focus. The museum has three sites in Dublin and one in County Mayo.
Ownership and control has changed hands multiple times since the museum was founded in 1877, in a past that reflects Ireland's turbulent history during the last century and a half. Since 2005, it has been established as a semi-state autonomous agency under its own board.
The archaeology section features artefacts relevant to prehistoric Ireland and the Viking and medieval periods, as well as special displays of items from Egypt, Cyprus and the Roman world.
Tonight at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, Director of the New Acropolis Museum 
