National Science Museum at Maynooth

National Science and Ecclesiology Museum

Plaque at entrance
Location within Ireland
Former name	Museum of Ecclesiology
Established	1934 (1934)
Location	Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
Coordinates	53°22′43″N 6°35′55″W / 53.37857°N 6.59857°W / 53.37857; -6.59857
Type	Science museum Ecclesiology museum
Public transit access	Maynooth Dublin Bus routes: 66, 67
Website	maynoothcollege.ie

The National Science and Ecclesiology Museum at Maynooth is a

The museum holds various artefacts from the history of science in Ireland (the largest such collection open to the public in Ireland),[1] a large collection of scientific equipment used by Nicholas Callan,^[2] and one of two death masks of Irish political leader Daniel O'Connell.^[3][4] The museum was founded in 1934 as the Museum of Ecclesiology but has become more focused on science, partially due to Maynooth's association with Callan.

The museum was founded in 1934 as the Museum of Ecclesiology in what was then simply

The museum has two main collections: a collection of scientific instruments associated with Nicholas Callan and a collection of ecclesiastical artifacts.

The Callan collection includes the first induction coil,

There is also a large holding of nineteenth century batteries in the museum. Other items in the collection include a Norremberg polariscope, a nineteenth century polarizing microscope, and the first portable GPS device.^{[citation needed]} Navigation instruments are also displayed in the museum, including several octants and sextants. In 1731, the Hadley octant improved in design to become the forerunner of the modern sextant.^[10] The octant inscribed with the name 'Yeates' in the collection appears to refer to a George Yeates, active from 1826-1858.^{[citation needed]}

The museum's ecclesiastical collection includes a set of priestly vestments including a set of robes commissioned under the royal patronage of Marie Antoinette. They include an old Ecce Homo (12C) and a leaf of an ivory diptych (14C, Northern France). In addition there are a number of altar stones and a statue of Jesus that was defaced by Cromwellian soldiers during the Siege of Drogheda in 1649.^{[citation needed]}

The museum opens several days a week out of academic term, and by appointment from October to May.