Galway City Museum
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| Established | 2006 |
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| Location | Spanish Arch, Galway City, Ireland |
| Type | Local Authority Museum |
| Visitors | 161,558 (2011) |
| Director | Brendán Ó hEaghra |
| Website | Galway City Museum |
Galway City Museum (Irish: Músaem Cathrach na Gaillimhe) is a museum in Galway City, County Galway, Ireland. It was founded on 29 July 2006, and is located beside the Spanish Arch. The official website for the museum was launched on 27 November 2008.
Galway City Museum was founded in the mid-1970s. It was originally located in Comerford House, which prior to this had been the home of artist Clare Sheridan. The museum began as a residual collection of medieval stones from the city, acquired by Sheridan. Curated by Etienne Ryan, Michael Keaney, Bill Scanlan and Jim Higgins the museum built up a general folklife, industrial and militia collection.
Comerford House is a historic property that was donated to the Galway City Council by the Comerford family for the intention of community care and purpose. The house was built c. 1800 as a private house, originally lived in by the Comerford family and later by the Greenwood family. Clare Consuelo Sheridan (1885–1970), sculptor, journalist, writer and first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill, lived at Comerford House between the years 1948 and 1954. The building became part of Galway Corporation’s administration offices for a period, before Galway City Museum was founded in 1976. This museum closed in 2004.
In April 2007 a new purpose built museum building was opened, behind the site of the old museum at Comerford House. The new Galway City Museum project was the initiative of Galway City Council to advance the cultural and heritage life of Galway City. The building was designed by Ciaran O’Connor and Ger Harvey, architects with the Office of Public Works, who were contracted by the Galway City Council. The new museum is located along the River Corrib beside the Spanish Arch, a protected monument which formed part of the defensive medieval wall that once surrounded the city of Galway. The design of the building creates a plaza or square between the museum and the Spanish Arch; a public space which is at times used for civic events.
The plan of the museum is composed in an ‘L’ shape and was restricted to three levels in order to maintain the scale of the surrounding buildings. The project was completed in 2006 and resulted in a space of 2,100 metres squared with a final cost of €6,890,000. The architects of the building won the Bank of Ireland Opus Architectural Award for their design in 2006.
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