Weingreen Museum

The Weingreen Museum of Biblical Antiquities is located in the Arts and Social Sciences Building, Trinity College Dublin. It received its present title in 1977 in recognition of Professor Weingreen's contribution to the creation of the museum. Professor Weingreen was Erasmus Smith's Professor of Hebrew at Trinity College Dublin between 1939 and 1979.

THE WEINGREEN MUSEUM DIGITISATION PROJECT
The digitisation project is in its preliminary fundraising stage but aims to facilitate open access to the holdings of the Weingreen Museum. We aim to make this unique and, mainly unknown, collection accessible by developing a searchable online catalogue (developed from the digitised catalogue assiduously compiled and organised by a former curator, Revd Dr John Bartlett), as a free open-access resource. This project has received funding from the Long Room Hub Research Initiative Scheme, which in turn is funded by the Higher Education Authority under PRTLI IV. Working on this project for 2008-2009 is:

Dr. Amanda Kelly (Trinity Long Room Hub Post-Doctoral Fellow in Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies Fellow)
Any queries can be addressed to kellya30@tcd.ie

Professor Jacob Weingreen
with a vase in the shape of a
monkey holding a pot from North
Africa 6th Century BCE.

The museum consists mainly of pottery and other artefacts from the Ancient Near East. The nucleus of the museum's collection is constituted by artefacts from the excavations of four Biblical cities in Palestine: Lachish (Director: J.L. Starkey, 1932-1938), Jericho (Kathleen Kenyon 1952-1959), Jerusalem (Kathleen Kenyon, 1961-1967) and Buseirah (Crystal Bennett, 1971-1975).

Shabti of Nesy - Khonsu (wife of the high priest of Amun) Thebes, Egypt 10th Century BCE

Lord Crookshank's Egyptian collection and Professor Weingreen's private archaeological collection add to the wealth of artefacts in the museum. Finds presented by Crystal Bennett from her excavations at Tawilan in Transjordan, as well as individual items donated by the Trustees of the British Museum from their surplus resources have increased the original collection to include notably cuneiform tablets from Ur of the Chaldes, a major relief from the palace of the Assyrian Kings at Calah-Nimrud in Iraq, Cypriot Bronze Age pottery, Punic, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Islamic and Medieval antiquities.

The holdings of the Weingreen Museum encompass the entire Mediterranean world from North Africa to Mesopotamia and from ninth millennium BCE to the Crusades (thirteenth century CE).

The museum exists to further scholarly research and teaching. Visiting scholars, school parties, and members of the public, are welcome to visit, by appointment, during teaching term. The Weingreen Museum is located on the 5th Level of the Arts and Social Sciences Building, in Room 5036.

Applications should be made in writing to the Curator of the Weingreen Museum, School of Religions and Theology, Trinity College Dublin or by email to Dr. Zuleika Rodgers.

Click here to view images of artefacts from the Weingreen Museum.

Contact: jwelch@tcd.ie | Last updated: Apr 11 2009 | Back to top