The Ulster Museum, in Belfast’s Botanic Gardens, is Northern Ireland’s largest museum and a leading cultural institution with broad collections in art, archaeology, natural history, and more. Founded in 1821 as the Belfast Natural History Society, it began exhibiting in 1833, moved to Stranmillis in 1929, and became a national museum in 1962. Its holdings are especially strong in Irish archaeology and natural history, including major hoards, Ireland’s only known dinosaur fossil bones, and celebrated objects such as Takabuti, an Irish elk, and a thylacine specimen. Its notable Brutalist extension opened in 1972, and after refurbishment it reopened in 2009.