National Leprechaun Museum Opens Its Doors in Dublin

Five-year old Jade Costello tries to climb on a giant armchair at Ireland's Leprechaun Museum. (AP)

A museum that claims to be the world's first-ever visitor attraction dedicated to Ireland’s mythological mischief maker opened Wednesday in Dublin.

The National Leprechaun Museum aimed to open up "a magical world full of fascinating folklore and enchanting stories" by providing an interactive experience, it said.

Visitors would enter a world where they would become one of the infamous miniature shoemakers, walking under a replica of the mystical Northern Irish landmark the Giant's Causeway, through rooms of giant furniture which stood at three times their normal size to the pot of "gold."

Tom O’Rahilly, who designed the museum, told The Irish Times the furniture reflected the correct human to leprechaun proportions, according to popular conception.

“So you should now feel like you’re the size of a leprechaun,” he said, adding that “it didn’t start out as a commercial venture ... We’re moving into a period of time in Ireland now where we look at things differently in our society.”

He said that during times of financial hardship people should take time out from their troubles, and stressed that the museum would allow them to enter a much needed world of wonder and make-believe.

Its creator also hoped the luck of the leprechaun could help the museum break through the recession, leading it to the elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.