Date: Monday 09 June 2025
Time: 09.15 to 17.00
Location: Neill Lecture Theatre, Trinity Long Room Hub, Trinity College Dublin
Ireland holds a small but significant collection of Islamic art - from ceramics, ivories, metalwork, textiles, and glass to manuscripts and furniture - dispersed across national collections. While the Chester Beatty is well known, many works remain less familiar. This free, public symposium brings together a growing community of curators, researchers, artists, students, conservators and enthusiasts for a day of invited talks and discussion on Islamic art in Ireland. All are welcome, no booking required.
Programme:
9.15 Welcome and Introduction - Anna McSweeney (Trinity College Dublin)
9.30 Learning through Objects: Spanish Lustreware at the National Museum of Ireland - Foivi Nomikou (Trinity College Dublin)
10.00 Making Lustreware in Ireland - Mark Campden (The Bridge Pottery, Kilkenny)
10.30 Connecting Students, Researchers, and Sites through Digitalisation: The Manar al-Athar Digital Archive - Sean Leatherbury (University College Dublin)
11.00 - 11.30 BREAK
11.30 The Subject Specialist Networks (SSN) for Islamic Art and Material Culture - Mariam Rosser-Owen (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
12.00 Working with Diverse Collections: The Hunt Museum in Limerick - Karen Wilson (The Hunt Museum, Limerick)
12.30 The Virtual Trinity Library Arabic and Islamic manuscripts project - Ellen O’Flaherty | Laura Shanahan (TCD Library Research Collections)
1.00 - 2.00pm LUNCH
2.00pm Revisiting the Damascus Room in the Dublin Museum - Moya Carey (Chester Beatty, Dublin)
2.30pm From Museum to Bound Leaves: the craft of Islamic bindings in the Chester Beatty, through the IRC Enterprise Partnership Scheme - Tayyebeh Babaei (Trinity College Dublin)
3.00pm The Body in the Library: Searching for the Reader in Imperial Mughal Albums - Bronwen Gulkis (University of St Andrews)
3.30pm Conserving the Book of Routes and Realms - Thaïs Naudin (Chester Beatty, Dublin)
4.00pm Hunting for Ivories in Ireland - Anna McSweeney (Trinity College Dublin)
4.30pm Panellist Discussion: Making the Collections Speak - Chaired by Eimear O’Connor (NMI Director of Collections and Access), with Eva Griffin (Dublin City Council Culture Company), Teresa Crowley (The Hunt Museum), Moya Carey (Chester Beatty) and Laura Shanahan (Trinity College Library)
Please let us know if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Email contact <Anna.McSweeney@tcd.ie>
This one day conference is organised by Dr Anna McSweeney, Department of History of Art and Architecture, in the School of Histories and Humanities, Trinity College Dublin and is supported by the Higher Education Authority and with thanks to Trinity Research Development Office.
