Dublinia

Dublinia is a living-history museum of Viking and medieval Dublin, housed in the Synod Hall — a Victorian Gothic building beside Christ Church Cathedral, linked to it by a covered stone bridge over St Michael's Hill. It grew out of the archaeology of the Wood Quay excavations, the great Viking-age dig on the banks of the Liffey in the 1970s, and tells the story of the city from the Norse settlement of the 9th century through the medieval town.

The exhibition runs over three floors: Viking Dublin (a reconstructed Norse street, a longship, the slave trade and daily life), Medieval Dublin (a recreated street with merchants, a fair and the Black Death) and a History Hunters floor on how archaeologists piece the past back together. It is aimed squarely at families and is hands-on — costumes to try, a longship to board — but the underlying archaeology is real and well presented.

You can climb St Michael's Tower, part of the building, for a view over the rooftops of the old city. Dublinia sits in the heart of medieval Dublin: Christ Church Cathedral is across the bridge, Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library are five minutes away, and the Liberties whiskey quarter is just to the west. A combined ticket with Christ Church Cathedral is available.