Waterford's museum houses items dating back to 1050. It's a treasure trove, writes Catherine Foley

In what city can the only surviving piece of clothing owned by Henry VIII be seen? Waterford. Where is the only complete set of medieval church vestments in Britain or Ireland now on view? Waterford.

(The set of velvet and silk robes made in Bruges were found hidden in the vaults of the city's Christchurch Cathedral in 1774.) The earliest view of an Irish city in a painting by the Dutch master William van der Hagen features which city? Yes, Waterford.

The beautiful View of Waterford along with King Henry's cap of maintenance and the 15th-century church vestments, are now housed in the city's designated museum, the Waterford Museum of Treasures.

Ireland's oldest city, founded by Viking raiders in 914, boasts a collection of amazing artefacts dating back to its earliest origins. The collection of historic items shows the city as a great, bustling, sophisticated and successful "melting pot", which was created in large part by "non-nationals", explains Eamonn McEneaney, the museum's director. "It's a melting pot. We cannot deny these things. That was the reality of Irish history. The Vikings were non-nationals. So were the Normans."

McEneaney says the displays deliberately set out to show history "from a very neutral stance, showing the contribution from all communities and what the positive outcomes of very disruptive events in the city were".

The museum has already won a number of awards since it opened in 1999. Following its first year in business at the Granary, a 19th-century grain store on Merchant's Quay, it won the Irish Museum of the Year Award. Then came the Irish American Cultural Institute Award 2000. It was one of just six museums in Europe to receive a special commendation in the European Museum of the Year Awards 2002 - the only other Irish museum in that shortlist was the Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin, which was the outright winner of title.

Then followed publication in 2004 of The Waterford Museum of Treasures, which features many of the museums most valued artefacts. This was joint winner of the Publication of the Year Award in the 2004 All-Ireland Museum of the Year Awards.

"We are trying to create a sense of place," says McEneaney. "The Viking material is particularly exciting."

The items from this period, and later, were all found at a dig that took place in the heart of Waterford from 1986 to 1992. It includes material that dates back to 1050. Among the material found were perfectly intact brooches, a ring with a blue sapphire, several types of jugs and jars, archery material, chain mail, combs, a dog collar, coins, a tallystick, which was used to keep account of a payment, badges, knifes and two money boxes.

Each item "has to have a story," says McEneaney. "That's why we spend so much time researching an item. I see them all as little pieces of a jigsaw. You have to find those little links.

One complete bow is one of the few surviving in Britain or Ireland and was probably made from a 30-year-old tree. "They were very 'blingy' in those days," says McEneaney, as he looks at a copper mount for a belt, dating from the 13th century.

The museum has a particularly valuable and historic document, called The Great Charter Roll, which the city officials put together along with illustrations to bring to London in 1370 to help in their bid to secure the monopoly they claimed over the port of New Ross. "There is nothing similar to the roll in either Britain or Ireland," says McEneaney.

Focusing on the history of Waterford city and its environs is helping to "create a sense of civic pride," he believes. "We've had people spend five hours here . . . they would read every caption." The paying visitors to the museum have numbered 30,000 each year.

Recent acquisitions include a portrait of Daniel O'Connell who was MP for Co Waterford in 1830-1831. This hangs alongside portraits of the politically active Sir Thomas Wyse, Thomas Meagher and his son Thomas Francis, the Young Irelander, who was born in Waterford in 1823. The large paintings help to illustrate to visitors, especially the many local schoolchildren, how the four men were central in the struggle for Catholic Emancipation.

There are up to 300 items on view, such as a large oak chest dating from 1693 from the home of the Wyse family who lived at Newtown (which was later to become the famous Society of Friends' Newtown School), a 5m high anchor, and a 32-light chandelier and elegant 1780s decanter, representing Waterford glass.

Other names, places and events connected with Waterford are celebrated in the museum, such as the city's links with Newfoundland and the great Luke Wadding (the Franciscan who found the Irish college in Rome).

"We are planning on broadening the concept of heritage," says McEneaney. With this in mind, next year the museum will have an exhibition to illustrate the emergence of the showband era in Ireland, paying particular attention to one of the key players during that period, the city's own son, Brendan Boyer. It's simply a case of Port Láirge Abú!