EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum

EPIC tells the other half of Ireland's story: not what happened on the island, but what happened to the millions who left it. Over the past few centuries an estimated ten million people emigrated from Ireland, driven by famine, poverty, persecution and ambition, and the Irish diaspora now numbers many times the population of the island itself. This museum, opened in 2016 in the brick vaults beneath the CHQ Building on Custom House Quay, follows them across the world through a sequence of themed galleries, and it does so with energy and wit rather than solemn display cases. You collect a passport at the start and stamp it as you go. The early galleries deal with why people left — the Great Famine of the 1840s above all, but also the earlier waves of Ulster emigration to America and the twentieth-century exodus to Britain. The journey galleries cover coffin ships, convict transports to Australia and the slow liners to New York. Then the museum widens out into what the emigrants and their descendants did: the politicians, revolutionaries, scientists, sports stars, writers, musicians and saints of Irish descent, from Argentine admirals to American presidents, presented through touchscreens, film, sound booths and music you can mix yourself. The tone is celebratory and personal, with real stories of ordinary people alongside the famous. Entry tickets include a guide or audio guide in several languages, and the museum has won European travel awards several times. Allow ninety minutes, and longer if you get lost in the archives.

Why it works: many emigration museums are mournful, and EPIC is not afraid of tragedy, but it is fundamentally about agency and influence. The design lets you follow your own interests, whether that is music, sport, politics or the Famine, and it is equally engaging for Irish-American visitors tracing family threads, Europeans who know little of the history, and Irish people seeing their own story from outside. There is a gallery on the darker side of the diaspora as well, from discrimination to the Irish role in colonial enterprises, which gives the whole thing more depth than a simple roll call of famous names. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions; through the end of 2026 a show called Common Ground looks at Ireland's relationship with the European Union.

For genealogy: the Irish Family History Centre in the same building offers consultations with professional genealogists and access to records, and it is worth booking in advance if you want to trace a specific ancestor rather than just browse. Bring whatever you know — names, counties, dates of emigration — because even scraps help. Children enjoy the passport stamps and the interactive galleries, and the whole museum is underground, step-free and dry, which makes it one of the best rainy-day choices in the city. Opening hours run into the early evening, so it can fill a late afternoon after other sights have closed.

Around it: the CHQ Building, a former tobacco and wine warehouse from the 1820s, sits on the north quays a short walk east of O'Connell Bridge. Outside, the Famine memorial's gaunt bronze figures walk along Custom House Quay toward the sea, and the Jeanie Johnston, a replica of a famine-era emigrant ship, is moored on the river nearby. Stroll along the Liffey to the Docklands, where the Samuel Beckett Bridge, shaped like a harp, crosses to Grand Canal Dock. Combine EPIC with the Guinness Storehouse using a combination ticket if you want a full day of Irish stories, or pair it with a walk through the north inner city to the General Post Office on O'Connell Street, the headquarters of the 1916 Rising.