DUBLIN CITY | THE REAL STREETS OF DUBLIN | William Murphy (aka Infomatique)

HISTORY OF DUBLIN

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:36:39 +0000

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:22:08 +0000

Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. Trinity and the University of Dublin form Ireland's oldest university.

Trinity is located in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, on College Green opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament (now a branch of the Bank of Ireland). The campus occupies 47 acres (190,000 m²), with many buildings, both old and new, ranged around large courts (known as "squares") and two playing fields.

Trinity retains a strong "campus" atmosphere despite its location in the centre of a capital city (and despite it being one of the most significant tourist attractions in Dublin). This is in large part due to the compact design of the campus, whose main buildings look inwards, and the existence of only a few public entrances. The main campus "island" is approximately 47 acres, including the Trinity College Enterprise Centre nearby, and buildings account for around 200,000 m², ranging from works of historic architecture to state-of-the-art modern facilities.

Trinity's campus contains many buildings of architectural merit, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries. These include the Chapel and Examination Hall designed by Sir William Chambers and the Museum Building designed by the Irish architects Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward.

In addition to the city centre campus, Trinity also incorporates the Faculty of Health Sciences buildings located at St. James's Teaching Hospital and the Adelaide and Meath incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght. The Trinity Centre at St James's Hospital has recently been completed and incorporates additional teaching rooms as well as the Institute of Molecular Medicine and John Durkan Leukaemia Institute.

Many students are housed on campus, or in Trinity Hall on Dartry Road in Rathmines, four kilometres to the south of the city campus, but large numbers secure accommodation external to the college. Foreign and exchange students are given priority when campus and Trinity Hall places are allocated.

Early History

The first university of Dublin was created by the Pope in 1311 , and had a Chancellor, lecturers and students (granted protection by the Crown) over many years, before coming to an end at the Reformation.

Following this, and some debate about a new University at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in 1592 a small group of Dublin citizens obtained a charter by way of Letters Patent from Queen Elizabeth incorporating Trinity College Dublin at the former site of All Hallows monastery, a mile to the south east of the city walls, provided by the Corporation of Dublin.^[10] The first Provost of the College was the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, and he was provided with three initial Fellows. Two years after foundation, a few Fellows and students began to work in the new College, which then lay around one small square.

During the following fifty years the community increased and endowments, including considerable landed estates, were secured, new fellowships were founded, the books which formed the foundation of the great library were acquired, a curriculum was devised and statutes were framed. The founding Letters Patent were amended by succeeding monarchs on a number of occasions, such as by James I (1613) and most notably by Charles I (who established the Board - then the Provost and seven senior Fellows - and reduced the panel of Visitors in size) and supplemented as late as the reign of Queen Victoria (and later still amended by the Oireachtas in 2000).

The 18th and 19th Centuries

The eighteenth century was for the most part peaceful in Ireland, and Trinity shared in this calm, though at the beginning of the period a few Jacobites and at its end some political radicals perturbed the College authorities. During this century Trinity was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy. Parliament, meeting on the other side of College Green, made generous grants for building. The first building of this period was the Old Library building, begun in 1712, followed by the Printing House and the Dining Hall. During the second half of the century Parliament Square slowly emerged. The great building drive was completed in the early nineteenth century by Botany Bay, the square which derives its name in part from the herb garden it once contained (and which was succeeded by Trinity's own Botanic Gardens).

The nineteenth century was also marked by important developments in the professional schools. The Law School was reorganised after the middle of the century. Medical teaching had been given in the College since 1711, but it was only after the establishment of the school on a firm basis by legislation in 1800, and under the inspiration of one Macartney, that it was in a position to play its full part, with such teachers as Graves and Stokes, in the great age of Dublin medicine. The Engineering School was established in 1842 and was one of the first of its kind in the British Isles.

The 20th century

Women were admitted to Trinity as full members for the first time in 1904, thus making it the first ancient university in Ireland or Britain to do so.

The School of Commerce was established in 1925, and the School of Social Studies in 1934. Also in 1934, the first female professor was appointed.

In 1962 the School of Commerce and the School of Social Studies amalgamated to form the School of Business and Social Studies. In 1969 the several schools and departments were grouped into Faculties as follows: Arts (Humanities and Letters); Business, Economic and Social Studies; Engineering and Systems Sciences; Health Sciences (since October 1977 all undergraduate teaching in dental science in the Dublin area has been located in Trinity College); Science.

The School of Pharmacy was established in 1977 (until recently, every pharmacy in Ireland had to employee a TCD-qualified pharmacist) and around the same time, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was transferred to University College, Dublin.

Student numbers increased sharply during the 1980s and 1990s, with total enrolment more than doubling, leading to pressure on resources.

Recent Years

Trinity is today in the very centre of Dublin, as the city has expanded eastwards and continues to grow, and to develop its academic and other activities.

Catholics and Trinity

During its early life, Trinity was exclusively for the Protestant Ascendancy class. Following early steps in Catholic Emancipation, Roman Catholics were first admitted in 1793 (prior to the equivalent change at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford). In 1873, all religious tests were abolished, except for the Divinity School. However, it was not until 1970 that the Roman Catholic Church, through the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, lifted its policy of disapproval or even excommunication for Roman Catholics who enrolled without special dispensation, at the same time as the Trinity authorities allowed a Roman Catholic chaplain to be based in the college.

The Library

The Library of Trinity College is the largest research library in Ireland. As a result of its historic standing, Trinity is a legal deposit library (as per Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003) for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and has a similar standing in Irish law. The college is therefore legally entitled to a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland and consequently receives over 100,000 new items every year. The library contains 4.5 million books, including 30,000 current serials and significant collections of manuscripts, maps, and printed music. Six library facilities are available for general student use.

The €27 million James Ussher Library, opened officially by the President of Ireland in April 2003, is the newest addition to Trinity's library facilities. The eight story 9,500 m² building provides 750 new reader spaces and houses the Glucksman Map Library and Conservation Department. The Glucksman library contains half a million printed maps, the largest collection of cartographic materials in Ireland. This includes the first Ordance Surveys of ireland, conducted in the early 19th century.

The Book of Kells is by far the Library's most famous book and is located in the Old Library, along with the Book of Durrow, the Book of Howth and other ancient texts. Also incorporating the Long Room, the Old Library is one of Ireland's biggest tourist attractions, and holds thousands of rare, and in many cases very early, volumes. Though the Book of Kells has been exhibited in other locations, damage caused on a loan in 2000 to an Australian institution has led to a policy of never allowing the book to leave Trinity again.

The look of the Great Jedi library (the Library of Ossus) in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was inspired by the Long Room; the two are virtually identical in appearance. Trinity considered legal action but the matter was not pursued. [www.archeire.com/news/2002/000238.htm]

In addition to on-campus facilities, Trinity has a major book depository in Santry, from which books are retrieved on request.

BOOK OF KELLS

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:10:19 +0000

Book of Kells

An Irish manuscript containing the Four Gospels, a fragment of Hebrew names, and the Eusebian canons, known also as the "Book of Columba", probably because it was written in the monastery of Iona to honour the saint. It is likely that it is to this book that the entry in the "Annals of Ulster" under the year 1006 refers, recording that in that year the "Gospel of Columba" was stolen. According to tradition, the book is a relic from the time of Columba (d. 597) and even the work of his hands, but, on palæographic grounds and judging by the character of the ornamentation, this tradition cannot be sustained, and the date of the composition of the book can hardly be placed earlier than the end of the seventh or beginning of the eighth century. This must be the book which the Welshman,Geraldus Cambrensis, saw at Kildare in the last quarter of the twelfth century and which he describes in glowing terms (Topogr. Hibern., II, xxxviii). We next hear of it at the cathedral of Kells (Irish Cenannus) in Meath, a foundation of Columba's, where it remained for a long time, or until the year 1541. In the seventeenth century Archbishop Ussher presented it to Trinity College, Dublin, where it is the most precious manuscript (A. I. 6) in the college library and by far the choicest relic of Irish art that has been preserved. In it is to be found every variety of design typical of Irish art at its best.

Some small portions at the beginning and end of the manuscript have been lost, but otherwise it is in a very good state of preservation. It was apparently left unfinished, since some of the ornaments remain only in outline. It is written in part black, red, purple or yellow ink, and it has been thought that the hands of two scribes, neither of whom is known to us by name, are discernible in the writing and illumination of the manuscript. The most characteristic ornaments of the Book of Kells, as of other illuminated Irish manuscripts of the period, are the closely coiled spirals connected with each other by a number of curves and terminating in the so-called "trumpet pattern". Almost equally characteristic are the zoomorphic interlacements, coloured representations of fanciful beings, or of men, animals, birds, horses, dogs, and grotesque, gargoyle-like human figures, twisted and hooked together in intricate detail. Other frequently occurring designs are a system of geometrical weaving of ribbons plaited and knotted together, and a simpler ornamentation by means of red dotted lines. The versatility and inventive genius of the illustrator surpasses all belief. Lines diverge and converge in endless succession, and the most intricate figures, in lavish abundance and with astounding variety of ornament, are combined and woven into one harmonious design. In spite of the extent of the work and its thousands of exquisite initials and terminals, there is not a single pattern or combination that can be said to be a copy of another. The artist shows a wonderful technique in designing and combining various emblems, the cross, vine, dragon, fish, and serpent. The drawing is perfection itself. It has been examined under a powerful magnifying glass for hours at a time and found to be, even in the most minute and complicated figures, without a single false or irregular line. Some of the most accomplished of modern draughtsmen have attempted to copy its elaborate designs, but, such is the delicacy of the execution, that they had to abandon the task as hopeless. In a space of one inch square were counted no less than 158 interlacings of white ribbon with a black border on either side. On the other hand, the pictures of the personages delineated are feeble and primitive and show but a limited knowledge of the human figure and its relative proportions.

No words can describe the beauty and the extreme splendour of the richly coloured initial letters, which are more profuse in the "Book of Kells" than in any other manuscript. The only thing to which they can be compared is a bed of many coloured crocuses and tulips or the very finest stained glass window, which they equal in beauty of colouring and rival in delicacy of ornament and drawing. The artist possessed a wonderful knowledge of the proportion of colour and the distribution of his material -- sienna, purple, lilac, red, pink, green, yellow, the colours most often used -- and he managed the shading and tinting of the letters with consummate taste and skill. It is remarkable that there is no trace of the use of silver or gold on the vellum. Sometimes the colours are laid on in thick layers to give the appearance of enamel, and are here and there as bright and soft and lustrous as when put on fresh more than twelve hundred years ago. Even the best photographic and colour reproductions give but a faint idea of the beauty of the original. Especially worthy of notice is the series of illuminated miniatures, including pictorial representations of the Evangelists and their symbols, the Blessed Virgin and the Divine Child, the temptation of Jesus, and Jesusseized by the Jews. These pictures reach their culminating point in what is, in some respects, the most marvellous example of workmanship that the world has ever produced, namely the full page monogram XPIwhich occurs in the text of the Gospel of St. Matthew. It is no wonder that it was for a long time believed that the "Book of Kells" could have been written only by angels.

PUBS

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:42:44 +0000

There is alot of difference between an Irish pub and its UK counterpart. Close scrutiny will reveal many differences.

Pub frontages are generally plainer and less ornamented than their British counterparts are, and hanging signs are absent, with the name of the pub or proprietor being displayed above the door. The use of the term "bar" for a pub is more common in Ireland than in the UK.

Prior to the 1960s and the arrival of supermarket and grocery chains in the country; Irish pubs usually operated as a 'Spirit grocery', combining the running of pub with a grocery, hardware or other ancillary business on the same premises (in some cases, publicans also acted as undertakers, and this unusual combination is still common today in the Republic of Ireland).

A pub in Abbeyleix, Morrisey's, is representative of the traditional spirit grocers. Spirit groceries first appeared in the mid 18th Century, when a growing temperance movement in Ireland forced publicans to diversify their businesses to compensate for declining spirit sales. With the arrival of increased competition in the retail sector, many pubs lost the retail end of their business and concentrated solely on the licensed trade.

Many pubs in Ireland still resemble grocer's shops of the 19th Century, with the bar counter and rear shelving taking up the majority of the space in the main bar area, apparently leaving little room for customers. This seemingly counter-productive arrangement is a design artefact dating from prior operation as a spirit grocery, and also accounts for the differing external appearance of English & Irish Pubs.

Spirit Grocers in Northern Ireland were forced to choose between either the retail or the licensed trades upon the partition of Ireland in 1922, and this pub type can no longer be found there.

In contrast to England, Ireland's pubs usually bear the name of the current or a previous owner, e.g. Murphy's or O'Connor's, and traditional pub names are absent. Famous traditional pubs in Dublin which have the characteristics outlined above include O'Donoghue's, Doheny & Nesbitt's & the Brazen Head, which bills itself as Ireland's oldest pub (a distinction actually held by Sean's Bar in Athlone).

Some pubs are named after famous streets such Sober Lane in Cork which is named after Father Matthew's Hall of Abstinence. Individual pubs are also associated with famous Irish writers and poets such as Patrick Kavanagh, Brendan Behan and James Joyce.

Pubs in Northern Ireland are largely identical to their southern counterparts. A side effect of the 'Troubles' was that the lack of a tourist industry meant that a higher proportion of traditional bars have survived the wholesale refitting of Irish pub interiors in the English style in the 1950s and 1960s. This refitting was driven by the need to expand seating areas to accommodate the growing numbers of tourists, and was a direct consequence of the growing dependence of the Irish economy on tourism. Traditional pubs in Belfast include the National Trust's Crown Liquor Saloon, and the city's oldest bar, McHugh's. Outside Belfast, pubs such as the House of McDonnell in Ballycastle (a former spirit grocery retaining all the characteristics of the type) and Grace Neill's in Donaghadee are representative of the traditional country pub.

The pubs listed above are truly representative of the traditional Irish type (while some may have been expanded, the original bar areas have been retained in all cases), as few remain today after the extensive refitting noted above. The majority of 'traditional' pubs in Ireland today have been refurbished in a pastiche of the original style during the 1990s. Many Irish pubs were refurbished in this manner so as to increase their attractiveness to tourists by more closely resembling the 'Irish pubs' found outside Ireland; and thus have more in common with them (many were refurbished by the same outfitting companies) than the traditional pub type they purport to represent.

The sentimental image of Ireland held by many tourists and members of the Irish diaspora has also resulted in changes to the Irish pub experience in many areas. The notion that there is more live music in an Irish pub, and that a customer is more likely to entertain the assembly with a song is a myth created by the Irish tourist industry. Pubs of this type (so-called 'singing pubs') are more likely to be found in areas dependent on tourism such as the south-west of Ireland. These pubs are conspicuously absent in areas where tourism is not a major part of the local economy, such as the Midlands or border counties. 'Singing pubs' are also absent from Northern Ireland.

Pubs in tourist oriented areas are also more likely to serve food to their customers, a recent phenomenon dating from the 1970s. Prior to this time food was not served in the vast majority of Irish pubs, as eating out was uncommon in Ireland (except in "eating-houses" set up on market days) and most towns and villages had at least one commercial hotel where food was available throughout the day. The provision of meals in pubs since this time is largely the result of an effort by Irish publicans to capture the tourist eating trade. The majority of traditional rural pubs not on the major tourist trails do not serve food; while traditional bars in urban areas such as Dublin, Armagh, Galway, and Sligo have responded to the increase in Irish people eating outside the home (a by-product of so called 'Celtic Tiger' economy during the 1990s); and now provide meals throughout the day.

Following the smoking ban in the Republic many pubs offer enclosed and often heated outdoor smoking areas. While many people object, the greater majority of people appear content with the legislation, which came into effect in Northern Ireland in April 2007.

Irish Pubs have been opened throughout the world, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s, from Boston to Frankfurt, Johannesburg to Beijing. They generally have a lot in common with pubs in Ireland, but there are many pretenders as well.
The vast majority of pubs in Ireland are independently owned and licensed, or owned by a chain that does not have any brewery involvement, generally meaning that nearly every pub sells a similar but extensive range of products. Some microbreweries operate their own pubs or chains of pubs, where the range is more limited, with only their own products and a few others.

DUBLIN DOCKLANDS

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 23:44:33 +0100

MUSEUMS

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:16:09 +0100