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Keith Heneghan
# museum of country life
A plastic bullet and an early breast pump are among the objects in a new 'National Treasures' exhibition
The exhibition follows the RTÉ National Treasures TV programme and it will run until August.
A NEW EXHIBITION aiming to tell the social history of Ireland over the last century has opened at the Museum of Country Life in Castlebar, Co Mayo.
The National Treasures project crowd sourced all its exhibits from members of the public.
The curators selected approximately 70 objects from around 5,000 submissions that were put forward in recent months.
The items reflect various themes and moments from Ireland’s social history over the last century.
The final selection includes a ‘Yes Equality’ badge form the 2015 marriage equality campaign, an Irish soccer jersey from Euro ’88, a Bosco mug, a plastic bullet from Northern Ireland and a programme from Munster’s historic victory over the All Blacks in 1978.
The Keeper of the Museum of Country Life, Tony Candon, said the project has been very close to their hearts over the last two years:
The exhibition enables people from all over Ireland, north and south, to tell their stories from the last 100 years through their own fascinating objects.
The exhibition opened on Tuesday and will run until August.
The selection of the objects was the subject of the RTÉ television programme National Treasures, which saw John Creedon and a team of curators assess an eclectic mix of public submissions.
The final episode in the four-part series airs this Sunday at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.
