The newly opened Museum of Curiosities, located at 35 Pembroke Street Lower just off Baggot Street, celebrates the strange, the forgotten and the oddly fascinating – a collection of unusual objects that sit somewhere between history and spectacle.
Spread across multiple rooms and tucked-away corners over two floors, the museum is the work of Dubliner and cabaret performer Monsieur Pompier, known for his surreal cabaret act, The Travelling Freakshow. The collection has grown gradually over years of travelling, collecting and stumbling across strange things in stranger places – from flea markets and estate sales to out-of-the-way antique shops and forgotten storage boxes.
Each space has its own atmosphere, but the museum as a whole feels like stepping into an old curiosity shop crossed with a faded theatrical set – all wood-panelled rooms, shadowy corners, and the sense that anything could be waiting around the next turn. You might find a preserved two-headed calf beside a haunted doll; a mummified French cat in a glass display case; or a stack of antique books that opens to reveal a hidden cigarette stash. There are electro-therapy machines, folk charms, anatomical models, voodoo and Victorian relics, and examples of spectacularly bad taxidermy.
Some of the most striking pieces include 19th-century stereoviews used to train doctors in diagnosing rare skin diseases, Jenny Hanivers (grotesque sea creatures fashioned from rays or skates), and intricately made French hair reliquaries. You can explore more of the museum’s surreal objects on their Instagram profile here.
Visitors are welcomed with a short introduction from the curator, who offers a glimpse into how and why the collection came together – touching on the histories behind certain pieces and the thinking that connects them. The museum is open from Wednesdays to Sundays, 11am to 7pm, with entry times spaced to allow visitors to explore at their own pace.
Though already densely packed with curiosities, there are plans for more. The space will soon begin hosting small exhibitions, talks, and one-off events. The hope is to create a home for artists, writers and thinkers who share an interest in the surreal, the marginal, or the just plain weird.
In a city where so much feels polished and predictable, the Museum of Curiosities is something else entirely. Strange, original and full of atmosphere, it offers a view of history – and imagination – from a very different angle.
Tickets can be purchased here
