Marie Coyne, the Inishbofin author and artist who led the successful campaign to get 13 skulls of deceased islanders, which had been removed and stored for over 130 years in the Old Anatomy Museum at Trinity College Dublin, returned to the County Galway island, has launched a public appeal to raise funds for a new museum.
Inishbofin pier. Inishbofin is a small island off the coast of Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. Inishbofin has around 180 inhabitants and is a tourist destination
Marie Coyne, the Inishbofin author and artist, set up the island's first museum in 1998
She set up the island's first museum in 1998.
"In 2014, the building was flooded during the worst storm in history," she says. "In the past few years, the contents were moved to storage as the building became unsuitable for conserving the many valuable artefacts I have managed to amass over many years of cultural value unique to the islands of Inishbofin and Inishark.
I have collected a huge archive of written material and photographs dating back centuries. My home and family sheds are overflowing with objects and written material, which require an environmentally controlled building to protect them.
The plans for the Inishbofin museum
The building would include a repair workshop where trained personnel could repair and clean artefacts. The new museum would become a sanctuary for the island's heritage, its people, and the events that touched their lives.
She is trying to raise €800,000 for the project, which has planning until 2026.
In an interview I did with her on Inishbofin on a previous Podcast, she outlined why she wanted to build a new museum:
