THE Fermanagh County Museum at Enniskillen Castle caused quite the Twitter storm last Friday as it was part of ‘Giant Objects On Museums Day’, giving people the chance to see some of the artefacts on display in the museum, albeit in a slightly different way.

The day was the brainchild of the museum’s Senior Development Officer, Bronagh Cleary, after she saw libraries run a Giant Animals On Libraries Day recently.

And it was a huge success, as the hashtag reached between 1.5 - 2 million Twitter users, and had museums from Ireland, England, Scotland, Canada and the USA all taking part.

While people who visit museums would be expecting to see these items on display behind glass cases, last Friday they got to see them ... pictured on Enniskillen Castle.

It was a novel way for the museum to display some of its collection, such as the newly acquired 3,000-year-old Bronze Age sword, some 1,000-year-old bog butter, and even the hat of the former editor of The Impartial Reporter, William Copeland Trimble.

After getting in touch with several museums, Bronagh was pleasantly surprised to log on on Friday and see the day was up and running with the Mary Rose Museum in England.

“Just to see so many different museums, taken this as an opportunity to show some of the things that they have in their collection and showcasing it on the roof, it was funny and interesting, and I suppose, it became a nice, pleasant distraction that people kind of need at times like this,” said Bronagh.

Looking at some of the pieces that adorned Enniskillen Museum, Bronagh said the bog butter captures the imagination for people, with everything from the story of how it was found to how a former curator tasted a piece of it.

Hats were a big thing throughout the day, and alongside Mr. Trimble’s top hat, Kilmainham Gaol placed the hat of the former Irish President, Éamon DeValera, on the Gaol, while the Oliver Cromwell Museum placed its namesake’s hat on it.

“There’s such a variety of things that you can show off,” said Bronagh.

The social media presence of the museum has been growing in recent months and it has a Twitter following of more than 7,000 people, while the interactions throughout the day brought the Twitter reach to 100,000 people.

It is this interaction between other museums and personal accounts that Bronagh feels gives people the opportunity to find relief away from the sometimes gloomy world we live in.

“Because more people are online from home, and maybe because Twitter has so much kind of fresh news on it, you have so many more people then interacting.

“And I think part of it is museums are providing a kind of social media haven for people. While they’re engaging with some news that may not be terribly good on one part of their Twitter interaction, they come along to museums for relief, and are finding it.”

With Giant Objects On Museums Day being a huge success, Bronagh added that she will be working with other museums to bounce ideas off each other for the next venture and she hopes to have something “fresh and novel” to do in the future.

And while the hat of William Copeland Trimble will remain safely in the museum despite attempts to reclaim it, she did not rule out someone from The Impartial Reporter trying it on for size in the future.