James Joyce Museum

James Joyce Museum reopens for the ReJoyce festival.

The Martello Tower on Sandycove, better known as The Joyce Tower, was the setting for the opening chapter of Joyce's classic novel, Ulysses. The tower was built in 1804 to protect the country for a French invasion at the start of 19^th century. The British War Department put the tower up for rent in 1904 and the first tenant was Joyce's friend, the poet Oliver St John Gogarty. Gogarty invited Joyce to stay with him in the tower but Joyce's stay was fraught with tension. After a week, Joyce left after another tenant cried out in the middle night and Gogarty accidentally fired a gun over Joyce's head.

When Joyce was looking for an opening to Ulysses a decade later, the tower and Gogarty would feature prominently in the first chapter. Gogarty was lampooned as the witty but cruel character, “Stately plump Buck Mulligan”. When Gogarty read the book he was not happy with the characterisation and the rift between the old friends became wider.

The tower became part of literary folklore and the architect Michael Scott acquired the tower in 1954. He set up the James Joyce Society with a number of friends to create a James Joyce Museum in the tower. The Society collected some precious Joycean memorabilia and Ulysses publisher, Sylvia Beach opened the museum on Bloomsday, 16^th June 1962. Dublin Tourism took over the museum in the mid '60s adding a ground level entrance and reconstructing the round room as it was depicted in Ulysses. 

As part of the ReJoyce Festival, the Joyce Tower reopened on February 2^nd, the date of Joyce's birthday. The James Joyce Tower offers guided tours, an exhibition of different editions of Ulysses and professional readings from the book. The tower also offers the view over Dublin Bay, that functions as the scenic backdrop to the conversation between Buck Mulligan and Stephen Daedalus in the opening pages of Ulysses.

James Joyce Museum
The Joyce Tower,
Sandycove,
Dublin.
Tel: +353 (0) 1 8722077