This month, Waterford Treasures is celebrating a quarter of a century welcoming visitors from all over the world, with 1.5 million paying visitors to date, each of whom has enjoyed a visit to at least one of the museums in Ireland’s oldest city.
To celebrate its quarter-of-a-century status, Waterford Treasures is set to host an international conference, ‘Waterford and the Wider World 1500-1800,’ from 8 to 9 November.
“Waterford Treasures has been, and continues to be, a real driver for the tourism economy in Waterford, and indeed the south-east region, having welcomed over two million visitors to date and ambition to continue to break annual visitor records, year on year,” said Sara Dolan, its CEO. “We’re excited to mark this significant milestone – a silver anniversary – and reflect on the journey and evolution over the past 25 years at our conference early next month.”
The November conference will offer an opportunity for delegates to hear the unique and untold story of the Waterford diaspora worldwide. Nineteen scholars from the USA, Spain, Italy, France, the UK and Ireland will give illustrated talks on the Waterford connection to Britain, France and Southern Europe in the 1500s and 1600s.
Merchants, army men (the ‘Wild Geese’), trainee priests and economic migrants in times of hardship will all feature, along with a connection to the Portuguese Inquisition. The involvement of Waterfordians in the Americas, the Caribbean and Asia, including the slave trade, will also be presented.
In 1999, Waterford City’s very first museum opened under the banner ‘Waterford Treasures’. Since then, that museum has become the award-winning Medieval Museum, and under the banner ‘Waterford Treasures’ there is now a collection of five museums, plus the Viking Virtual Reality Experience at the Viking House and the EPIC guided walking tour, all located in Waterford’s historic core, the Viking Triangle.
“Waterford Treasures has grown from being one museum celebrating our city’s impressive heritage to a global attraction welcoming visitors from Ireland and the world over, and picking up a host of awards along the way,” said Dolan.
