Robbers stole a number of figures from the collection of the National Wax Museum and severely damaged many more in a break-in at a warehouse last month.
The theft and damage of a significant part of the museum's collection is a major setback to the anticipated reopening of the museum at new premises in the Smithfield area of Dublin before the end of 2007.
"This is all really upsetting and it will delay our reopening," Kay Murray, manager of the National Wax Museum said yesterday.
The collection of wax figures had been in storage in a locked room in a warehouse in Dublin's south inner city. "Eleven of the figures, mainly from the children's section, were stolen and then a lot of sculptures were badly damaged. Uniforms from many of the other figures were also stolen," Ms Murray said.
The valuable collection of wax sculptures had been insured at the old museum premises at Granby Street in Dublin, but the collection was not covered by insurance at the location where it has been stored since its relocation in 2005. Ms Murray estimates the uninsured loss at €1 million.Custom-made uniforms for second World War figures and figures of the 1916 Rising appear to have been a particular target of the raiders.
Ms Murray said the museum had not wanted to release information about the raid to the public at the time of the incident in case publicity would interfere with the Garda investigation. She said that there was a possibility that the collection was located by the raiders following an all-night rave party that took place in the warehouse.
Ms Murray said she hoped members of the public might be able to assist gardaí to search for the missing waxworks now that information of the raid is in the public domain.
"At this stage, all we want is to get the figures back," she said.
Among the figures stolen from the children's section and the chamber of horrors section of the museum were models of Fred Flintstone, Bob the Builder, Gollum (from the Lord of the Rings) and Hannibal Lecter. All of the figures in the collection were made by sculptor P J Heraty. He has been the sculptor for the museum since it opened in 1983.