About 6 km from the town of Killarney (County Kerry) in the heart of Killarney National Park on a beautiful green Peninsula between Lough Leane and Muckross, is the famous estate of Muckross house is one of the most popular attractions in Ireland, with which, as a rule, visitors to the emerald Isle and start your tour of the reserve.

A beautiful Victorian mansion that you will see on the estate, was designed by renowned Scottish architect William Bern for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, and aquarelliste Belfort Marie Herbert. Construction began in 1839 and was completed in 1843, and in 1850-ies in preparation for the visit of Queen Victoria, scheduled for 1861, near the mansion was laid out a gorgeous garden, which today is considered one of the finest gardens in Ireland. The mansion is well preserved to our days and is open to visitors. You can see the pompous ceremonial halls in the Tudor style on the ground floor and a much more modest room on the second floor and look in the kitchen and the utility room on the ground floor.

In 1899 the estate was sold to the Irish businessman, politician or a philanthropist Arthur Guinness, and in 1911 Muckross house has acquired a California tycoon William Bourne for his daughter Maud and her husband Arthur Vincent as a wedding gift. The family lived in the HOMESTEAD until the death of the Mod in 1929. In 1932, Arthur Vincent, with the consent of the parents of his dead wife decided to pass on to Muckross house as a gift to the Irish state as Memorial Park Bourne-Vincent, who in the result of the first national Park in Ireland. Over time, its territory has been thoroughly expanded and the Park has been named Killarney national Park.

In addition to the old mansion and garden special attention deserves and specially built Muckross Farm, perfectly illustrating the life of the Irish farmers 30's and 40's of the twentieth years of the last century. No less interesting and opened in 1972 arboretum, exotic plants which were specially imported from the southern hemisphere.