One of the most interesting and unusual objects on display at Galway City Museum is the Reliquary of St Ursula. This ornate silver casket contains part of a skull associated with St Ursula, a legendary fourth century Romano-British princess. It is now on display in the Silver Room on the ground floor of the Museum.
The reliquary was created by Galway silversmith Richard Joyce, who is credited with the design of the modern Claddagh ring. The relic is thought to have been brought back from Continental Europe to Galway sometime in the early 1720s at the behest of Richard’s niece Margaret Joyce, who was Prioress of the Dominican Convent, also known as the ‘Slate Nunnery’, in Kirwan’s Lane.
The reliquary, skull and the figure of St Ursula have fascinated me since I started working in the museum and recently led me to undertake new research on this unique object. My search led me into various archives and academic publications and eventually led me to the Chrono Lab in Queens University in Belfast, where we scientifically determined the age of the skull using radiocarbon dating.
To find out what I have discovered about this amazing object read the full article here: UNEARTHED-The Origin of the Skull Attributed to St Ursula.
