Galway City Museum began, somewhat improbably, as one woman's collection of medieval stones.

Clare Sheridan, sculptor, journalist and first cousin of Winston Churchill, spent her later years at Comerford House beside the Spanish Arch, gathering fragments of the city's past. That residual collection became the museum's foundation when it formally opened in 1976.

The purpose-built building that replaced it in 2007 holds over a thousand objects across three floors, spanning prehistoric Galway, the Claddagh fishing village and the city's role in trade and independence. Among the highlights: the Civic Sword granted under King James I in 1610, the Great Mace presented by Edward Eyre in 1712, and the original statue of writer Pádraig Ó Conaire, moved here after it was vandalised in Eyre Square.

VoiceMap's tours stop at the museum to trace the city's medieval walls, Claddagh traditions and Famine history, with the River Corrib visible through the windows.