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Architects: Mirko Cerami, Ralph Appelbaum Associates,
London, United Kingdom
Client: Museum of Literature Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

In the literary world, Ireland punches far above its weight, laying claim to Nobel Prize-winners and titans of modern literature, from Yeats and Beckett to James Joyce. The new Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI) celebrates this storied tradition, providing a sweeping overview of Irish language and literature and exploring how such a small island has produced so many literary giants.

The product of a ground-breaking partnership between University College Dublin and the National Library of Ireland, MoLI opened in September 2019 in the historic Newman House. It is Ireland’s first literature museum and the first museum globally dedicated to the Irish literary tradition.

MoLI’s brief was to create a space that celebrates Irish language and literature in its entirety, exploring how a small island has produced so many literary giants. As the first museum of its kind, MoLI wanted to appeal to as broad an audience as possible of experts and novices alike. There was also a desire to act as a new cultural hub for Dublin, to inspire the next generation of writers.

The Museum’s unique challenge was to enliven the written word into an engaging visitor experience. RAA was inspired by Irish literature's oral qualities, utilising sound and other media to craft a fully sensory visitor experience, where words lift off the page and into visitors’ ears. At MoLI, globally significant artefacts such as the first copy of James Joyce’s Ulysses are displayed alongside innovative media installations that bring the sights and sounds of Irish literature to life.

Each of MoLI’s three floors explores the Irish literary tradition from a different perspective: ‘Place’ on the ground floor, ‘Voice’ on the first and ‘Inspiration’ on the second. The exhibition design reflects these themes – immersive and generative on the ground floor to evoke Ireland’s landscape; flexible and modular on the first floor to accommodate an ever-changing array of stories exploring Ireland’s range of literary voices; and participatory on the second floor, where visitors are inspired to write their own works.

At the heart of MoLI is the ‘Riverrun of Language’, an innovative new multi-sensory and generative installation, which immerses visitors in the sounds of Irish language through cutting-edge media design. Visitors’ movements triggering sound showers of spoken Irish literature and folklore, adding to the density of words in the river of language on the walls.

Throughout the rest of MoLI, visitors are similarly encouraged to become more than passive consumers of words: reading books surrounded by object displays, listening to an author read their newest work or even writing their own. The culmination of these participatory designs is a new kind of museum, a dynamic incubation space where contemporary and future writers are placed at the heart of the creative process.

Capturing the spirit of Irish literature, MoLI acts as a living, breathing space that evolves with the literary landscape, generating new cultural ideas. Beyond the generative visitor experiences and the range of literary voices on display, the museum also hosts live events, such as lectures, book launches and performances, that drive forward the course of Irish literature. In its first two months alone, MoLI hosted four domestic book launches, including one by Booker Prize winner Anne Enright. A recent speech by Prince William at MoLI has cemented its reputation as a cultural hub.