Russborough contains an important private collection of European fine and decorative arts, including furniture, silver, porcelain and paintings many of which have now been transferred to galleries for safe keeping.

Russborough is open to visitors and is located on a 200-acre (81 ha) estate, with many of the original 18th-century features still in place including the walled garden, ice-house, lime kiln and the serpentine lakes.

A sizeable fortune made in brewing and property development in Dublin passed down to Joseph Leeson, who bought land at what was then Russelltown.

[5] While the house was being built Joseph embarked on two Grand Tours to acquire a suitably impressive collection of paintings, sculpture and furnishings to adorn his new home.

Back at Russborough, Ireland's and Europe's finest artisans and craftspeople were appointed by Castle to create a lavish interior.

At the bottom of the flight of granite steps the visitor is greeted by a pair of heraldic lions, bearers of the Leeson arms.

The ceilings of several rooms and the main stairhall feature elaborate stucco work attributed to the Swiss-Italian stuccodores, Paolo and Filippo Lafrancini.

Among the Collection's treasures still in Russborough are an outstanding array of eighteenth-century French and English furniture, many important paintings from the 17th to 20th centuries.

In addition it exhibits one of the finest private collections of 18th-century silver and porcelain in Ireland, including significant pieces by Meissen and Sèvres.

The 2023 film Baltimore was about the theft and recovery of nineteen old master paintings from the collection, valued at IR£8 million, by British heiress Rose Dugdale and other IRA members.