Often called 'Galway's Hidden Museum', the James Mitchell Museum is entered by the staircase in the south-east corner of the Main Quadrangle of NUI, Galway.

The museum and its collections of rocks, minerals and fossils serve as an education resource for staff and students of the College and for national and secondary school pupils. It also acts as a valuable research resource, providing a focus for local-based researchers and those visiting the west of Ireland.

Its interior is in harmony with the 19th century atmosphere of the University's main quadrangle. Many of its displays reflect its unique location adjacent to one of the most exciting areas of geology in western Europe.

The museum has survived a history marked by significant periods of neglect and inactivity. Furthermore, it is the last remaining gallery of the much larger, but now disbanded, Natural History Museum of NUI, Galway. It approaches the end of the 20 th century invigorated by recent and much needed restorations and refurbishments.

http://www.nuigalway.ie/eos/museum/museum.html