Cork Butter Museum

Cork Butter Museum

Músaem Im Corcaigh
File:Cork-Butter-Museum-2012.JPG
Established	1985
Location	Cork, County Cork, Ireland
Type	Butter museum
Curator	Peter Foynes
Website	www.corkbutter.museum

Cork Butter Museum (Irish: Músaem Im Corcaigh) is a museum that documents the history of butter production and sale in County Cork, and is housed in the former Cork Butter Market.

History

The Cork Butter Market building is situated in the Shandon area of the city, with the building dating from 1849. Shandon was the largest Shambles (open-air butcheries) in Ireland, and the Exchange was located within this commercial area. During the Exchanges peak in the 19th-century, Cork was the largest exporter of butter in the world, with butter exported as far as Australia and India.

Contents

The Museum documents the important role of the butter trade to Ireland over the course of history. In particular the Museum is concerned with the international Butter Exchange in the 19th-century, the domestic production of butter, and the success of Kerrygold in recent times. The displays document elements of Irish commercial, social and domestic history. The exhibitions bring the visitor through the various elements of butter production, from dairy cattle farming, to the documents and artefacts relating to the commercial butter trade. The Museum's collections include a variety of dairy paraphernalia, including a container of thousand year old medieval bog butter.

External links

• Discover Ireland