James Joyce Museum

Set along the coast road in Sandycove 8 miles south of Dublin City, the Joyce Tower was built in Martello Towers built around Dublin in 1804 to withstand an invasion by Napoleon, featured in the opening lines of James Joyce's Ulysses, and in 1962 transformed into a museum devoted to the life works of James Joyce.

Dramatically located on a cliff-top overlooking the sea, the tower stands eight miles south of Dublin on the coast road. It clearly impressed Joyce, whose brief stay here in 1904 inspired the opening of Ulysses, widely acclaimed as the greatest novel of the twentieth century.

One of a series of Martello Towers built around Dublin in 1804 to withstand an invasion by Napoleon, it was opened in 1962 as a museum devoted to the life and works of James Joyce, who is known worldwide as the writer most closely associated with his native Dublin.

Objects in the museum bring Joyce and his works vividly to life. The collection includes letters, photographs, portraits and personal possessions of Joyce, some of them given by close friends such as Samuel Beckett, Maria Jolas, Sylvia Beach and Paul Ruggiero - his tie and wallet, his cabin trunk, guitar and cane are among these. There are first and rare editions of his work, including his early broadsides and the celebrated edition of Ulysses illustrated by Henri Matisse. Items such as the original key of the Tower, a Clongowes pandybat, a Plumtree’s pot and photographs of ‘Throwaway’ and Davy Stephens are examples of the real and ordinary which Joyce transformed into the material of myth.

If You Go: James Joyce Museum is open April - September : Mon - Sat 10.00-17.00 (closed for lunch 13.00-14.00), and Sundays & Public Holidays 14.00-18.00, and Bloomsday (16 June) 08.00-18.00. Admission is Adults €7.25, OAPs/Concessions €6.10, Children €4.55, Family ticket €21.00.