Waterford Museum of Treasures, History museum in Waterford, Ireland.
The Waterford Museum of Treasures is a history museum in Waterford, Ireland, housed in two medieval spaces: the Choristers' Hall from the 13th century and a wine storage vault from the 15th century. The collections display objects spanning different periods of the city's past, and the historic rooms form an integral part of the exhibition itself.
The Waterford Museum of Treasures opened in 1999, with its Viking treasures housed in the former granary at Reginald's Tower on the Quay. Excavations in central Waterford in 1986 and 1992 unearthed many of the objects now on display. The collections trace a thousand years of Waterford, which the sources call Ireland's oldest city.
The Waterford Charter Roll, a 14th-century parchment, is kept in the Medieval Museum. It was compiled under the city's Anglo-Norman merchant oligarchy, whose members are shown in the drawings, and it was used to defend Waterford's trading privileges against rival ports.
The museums and Reginald's Tower stand close together in the Viking Triangle, so the sites can be covered on foot. The complex is open all year except Christmas Day, St Stephen's Day and New Year's Day, with shorter hours from September to May. The Reginald's Tower branch sits on the Quay.
Among the objects on display is the only surviving garment known to have been worn by King Henry VIII, gifted to the Mayor of Waterford in 1536. This piece makes Waterford the unlikely home of a rare item from the English royal wardrobe of the 16th century.
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