National Museums NI has over 20,000 images available to purchase as reproduction prints from our comprehensive art, history and natural sciences collections. Our Picture Library Service can license images for uses such as CD covers, books, television or to adorn the walls of an upmarket hotel.
Image Licensing
National Museums NI has over 35,000 images available to search from our diverse and extensive collections of fine and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, local history, emigration, transport and natural sciences.
If you are interested in reproducing images of our objects and artworks you will require a non-commercial (personal use) or commercial use licence.
We offer a non-commercial use licence and a commercial use licence which are described below:
Non-Commercial Use
National Museums NI consider that non-commercial activity includes, but is not limited to, use in free educational lectures and classes, inclusion in thesis papers (under 10 copies) and use for personal research. If you are unsure, please contact our Digital Access Officer who will be pleased to assist.
- If an image is out of copyright
Images of works where copyright has expired or belongs exclusively to National Museums NI are available for you to use under the terms of a personal research, non-commercial use agreement between the user and National Museums NI. Low resolution images can be downloaded from Collections Online. If you require a high resolution version of the image, please complete the Image Licensing Enquiry Form (linked below).
- If an image is still in copyright
If you require an image that is still in copyright then please fill out the Image Licensing Enquiry Form (linked below).
Commercial Use
National Museums NI consider commercial use as where use of our images will result in, or is intended to result in, a commercial advantage or monetary gain – making a profit or covering costs. Commercial activities include, but are not limited to, merchandise production, publications that are sold, advertisements and use in films and on TV.
If you require a commercial licence, please use the Image Licensing Enquiry Form (linked below) to tell us your requirements.
If copyright lies with a third party
Not all the content on our collections pages is National Museums NI’s copyright. Some of it may have third-party intellectual property or image rights that the Museum doesn't own. While we have made all reasonable efforts to obtain permission from the owners of such content to post it on our website, we cannot allow any additional uses ourselves.
If you wish to license an in copyright image then we are happy to facilitate contact between you and the rights holder but due to data protection laws we cannot share direct contact details.
Additionally, there may be content we do not share due to cultural sensitivities, or if doing so would be against any existing Museum policies (such as our human remains policy).
Exceptions to copyright
There are statutory exceptions to copyright that may also apply in certain situations. It is the user’s responsibility to satisfy themselves that an exception (such as fair dealing, criticism and review, quotation, or reporting a current event) applies.
Image Licensing Enquiry Form
National Museums NI Image licence enquiry (office.com)
Catalogue numbers can be found on the object’s collections online page. If your request contains multiple uses, please note additional uses in box 26: Any other use not listed above
Image Licensing Price List
Credit line
Where possible users should credit the image with:
- catalogue number
- artist name
- title of work
- copyright statement
- credit line “Image Courtesy of National Museums NI”
- reference to which collection the image comes from (if relevant)
For example:
HOYFM.HW.H262, Ship No. 317 Oceanic, Welch, Robert John (1859-1936); Harland and Wolff, Image courtesy of National Museums NI, Ulster Transport Museum Collection
BELUM.U4754, In The Mournes (1936), John Luke, 1906-1975, © Estate of John Luke, Ulster Museum Collection
Can’t find what you are looking for?
Contact our Digital Access Officer by e-mail at [email protected]
Harland & Wolff Ship Plan collection
The museum holds the H&W ship plan collection. A number of ship plans have been digitised, mainly of the Olympic Class Liners including the Titanic.
Due to time and resource constraints we have had to cease any new scanning of ship plans indefinitely, therefore any new requests to digitise H&W ship plans cannot be completed at this time.
Spreadsheets of the ship plans that have been digitised can be downloaded and explored.