Bookcase belonging to Charles Stewart Parnell among items damaged at National Museum

Historic objects damaged at Ireland’s National Museum included a bookcase thought to belong to Charles Stewart Parnell, a frog that got dried out, and a candelabra that lost its star.

A log of mishaps of cultural items also details how the skin of a basking shark at the Natural History Museum was starting to split and ended up being fitted with a ‘nappy’ to avoid further damage.

The museum’s inventory detailed how in 2023 a bookcase believed to belong to Parnell was damaged after a leak in the roof of a storage area.

The National Museum of Ireland (NMI) said the item was currently under assessment by their conservation team.

Last year, a chair that was part of an exhibition of the internationally famed Irish designer Eileen Gray, was damaged while on public display and had to be removed from public view.

The NMI said conservation work had already been completed, and it was now back available for the public to see.

A series of paper drawings – part of a collection of…