This is one of the world’s greatest dolls’ houses.
Tara’s Palace pays homage to some of the most famous Georgian houses in Ireland, including Carton, Castletown and Leinster House – just around the corner from this museum.
It took master craftsmen over 20 years to build and furnish the Palace, which features famous interiors recreated at one twelfth of their original size. Look, for example, at the keys in each of the tiny locks – they actually work! Marvel at the reception rooms, the kitchen with its tray set for afternoon tea, the toys in the nursery – and the music room with its tiny golden violin.
All 22 rooms are furnished with priceless antiques, including bone carvings made by Napoleonic prisoners of war, and ivory from the workshops of Goa. Historians and architects find much to admire in this wonderful model, but like all dolls’ houses, Tara’s Palace is primarily a toy, designed to ignite the imagination of children of all ages.
From the library, with its collection of readable first editions, to the ornate plaster ceilings and parquay floors with Persian rugs, Tara’s Palace is an extraordinary piece of our cultural heritage. We are delighted to give the Palace a new home in the Little Museum.
In 1907, James Hicks of Dublin was commissioned to build a miniature dolls’ palace. Titania’s Palace took over 15 years to complete. Furnished with exquisite miniatures from the four corners of the globe, the Palace toured the world, raising money for children’s charities.
The Palace was sold at auction in 1978. Ron McDonnell, head of the Irish Antique Dealers Association, led an Irish delegation to the auction in London, where they hoped to secure the Palace’s return to Ireland. They had not allowed for the deep pockets of Legoland, who paid £135,000 to take Titania’s Palace back to Denmark.
Ron, his wife Doreen, and their colleagues decided that if gifted Irish craftsmen could build one miniature palace, “they could build a second one”. So they commissioned a new dolls’ house, and decided to name it in honour of Tara, the fairy princess.
Today, Tara’s Palace is renowned as one of the world’s greatest dolls’ houses.
Special thanks to the Tara’s Palace Trust.