Waterford Museum in running for major international award
Tour Guide 'Funeral Director' Jamie Murphy at The Irish Wake Museum Waterford. Photograph: Patrick Browne
The Irish Wake Museum in Waterford City has been selected as the only Irish finalist for the esteemed British Guild of Travel Writers' International Tourism Awards.
The Waterford museum is a finalist in the ‘Best UK and Ireland Tourism Project’ category. Its competition is the Aerial Red Squirrel Trail at Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Scotland and the recently reopened London’s historic National Portrait Gallery, the recipient of more than €40 million of investment.
The travel writers described the Déise museum as "a rare opportunity to uncover an iconic part of Irish culture", after being nominated for the award by award-winning travel writer and Cork-native Isabel Conway during the summer of 2024. In her nomination, Ms Conway said: "The Irish Wake is immortalised by writers, poets, folklorists, and movie makers and now there’s a museum devoted to one of Ireland’s most iconic cultural traditions.
"The country’s oldest urban domestic dwelling, a 15th-century almshouse, whose residents earned their keep praying for the souls of patrons, houses the Irish Wake Museum, part of the Viking Triangle project to breathe new life into disused buildings in Waterford city centre."
"Visitors," she said, "are urged to ‘Memento Mori’ - remember death –whilst rejoicing in life as no brief candle but a splendid torch held for a moment before handing it on to future generations." The winners of each category will be announced in London ‘World Travel Market' on November 4th.
“We are thrilled to receive this news," the CEO of Waterford Treasures Collection of Museums, Sara Dolan said. "We know that being short-listed alone shines an incredible spotlight on the museum especially amongst an audience of the world’s best travel writers, travel agents and tour operators, offering a great opportunity for such a newly established museum."
"Visitors to the museum have left spellbound over the last year, and we take into account and judge the success of the museum on guest feedback and reviews - and reviews of the museum are hugely positive - but the reviews from some of the world’s most experienced travel writers is another level," she said. "We are very grateful to travel writer Isabel Conway for her decision to make a nomination; it really does bring with it a huge opportunity to our doorstep here in Ireland’s oldest City.”
Tickets for the museum are available on the Waterford Treasures website, and €1 from each admission ticket goes to the Waterford Hospice movement. In the leadup to Samhain, one of the most popular times of the year, the Museum set to host a series of themed events for children and for adults only as the theme of the season lines up with the museum's subject matter.
