About
About us
The Peacemakers Museum is one element of a £2.8million redevelopment and extension of the Gasyard Centre which will also provide a community café and an enlarged reception at the Gasyard Centre, meeting rooms and an outdoor space which can be used for events. The Gasyard Centre is located in the famous Bogside area of Derry in the North of Ireland and is managed by the Gasyard Development Trust (GDT). The GDT is a registered charity set up to support residents through various mediums of personal and social development. It was set up in 1996 to develop a Neighbourhood Cultural Centre. Completion in 2001 enabled the Trust to provide a wide range of services both directly and indirectly for the community in the Bogside, Brandywell and surrounding areas. In-house projects, Bluebell Arts Project and the Children’s Centre deliver much-needed programmes and services to the local community. GDT as a project has a mix of roles – project deliverer, landlord, and facilities provider. The organisation helps to promote, in a strategic way, community and economic regeneration in partnership with other local groups, local schools and the private and statutory sectors. The museum is an important addition to the centre, providing a space for education, reflection and engagement with the history of the conflict and the ongoing peace process. The museum has been funded by The National Heritage Lottery Fund, whilst the wider redevelopment has been supported by: TEO / Urban Villages, Department for Communities, Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Bistro 9 Café
The Bistro 9 Café at the Gasyard – offers an extensive range of tasty meals, snacks and a wide choice of hot and cold drinks to museum visitors and the wider public at very reasonable rates. The current Bistro 9 menu is available below.
Bookshop/Giftshop
The museum shop offers a range of publications on the peace process and wider Irish history and politics as well as a selection of souvenirs, local crafts and mementos. For more information on products available at the Gift Shop – click on the buttom below.
Room Hire
The museum also offers a 60 seater meeting room suitable for academic groups who would like to arrange Q & A sessions with local residents who can offer a unique insight into the peace process. To make an inquiry about booking the room please contact us (click the link below to go to contact page):
Sensory/Translation Facilities
The museum offers a range sensory facilities inc braille, audiopen, loop system, subtitles and British/Irish sign language. Multi-lingual translation is also available through the museum website. • Buy headphones/pre-arrange • Audio Translations • Subtitles in various languages on tablet
Explore...
The Museum is divided into a number of sections including:
An immersive experience which recreates the atmosphere of the protest riots that occurred in the Bogside from the late 1969’s to the 1990’s.
False Dawns: This section looks at short lived peace initiatives such as the 1974 power sharing experiment and the 1975 IRA ceasefire.
Politics in Deep Freeze: This section explores the British governments various security responses to the IRA’s new ‘Long War’ Strategy and John Hume’s attempts to involve the US and European Community in attempts to resolve the conflict.
The story of the protests against the criminalization of Republican prisoners including the Hunger Strikes of 1980/81 and their role in both prolonging the conflict and moving Republicans into electoral politics.
This section also Includes a replica H-Block cell and footage of former prisoners recounting their involvement in the protests.
Armalite and ballot box: Exploring Sinn Feins growth following the Hunger Strikes and the response of both governments through the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
This section also explores the early talks between the Irish government, Sinn Féin and John Hume which created the context for the emerging peace process.
Nationalist consensus and the US connection: This section explores the evolving Hume/Adams talks process, the response of the two governments through the Downing Street Declaration and the influence of Irish America and the US government in securing the 1994 ceasefire.
No Guns No Government: This section explores the response of Sinn Féin and John Hume to the lack of all-party talks, the collapse of the IRA ceasefire and attempts to revive the peace process following the election of new British and Irish governments.
Towards the Good Friday Agreement: This section explores the 1997-98 talks process leading to the Good Friday Agreement.
This feature explains the key components of the Good Friday Agreement and how these various elements addressed the key issues which created the conflict.
A Stop-Start process: This section explores the key issues which prevented the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the unilateral 2005 IRA initiative to revive the process and the appointment of Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley as Joint First Ministers in the restored power sharing government.
Audio Visual Elements:
Each section of the museum also includes a series of audio visual installations featuring interviews with those who witnessed and were involved in key events of the conflict locally combined with rare archive footage from each period. The museum also includes rare artefacts including peace process documents, listening devices and British Army sangars and a unique installation outlining the evolution of Free Derry wall. (Include images of some of these artefacts) The museum gives visitors a chance to learn about what life was like living in this area during years of armed conflict combined with the efforts of local figures to resolve the conflict at an international level.
Get in Touch
