Capital Dublin

Dublin, Irish Baile Átha Cliath, is the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It is located in the east of the island of Ireland on the Irish Sea. It is the cultural and economic center of the state and has the most important port. Georgian-style buildings shape the cityscape of the lively city, which is a popular tourist destination.

Dublin lies at the mouth of the Liffey and Dublin Bay on the Irish Sea. The city itself has around 525,000 residents, but if you include the neighboring towns, almost twice as many people live in the Dublin agglomeration.

According to ABBREVIATIONFINDER, Dublin is the seat of government and administration of County Dublin in eastern Ireland. The city is the cultural, industrial and commercial center of the Republic of Ireland and has its main port. It is the seat of a Catholic and an Anglican Archbishop. Dublin has three academic academies, colleges and research institutions, and three universities, the most famous of which is Trinity College. The Trinity College library has a valuable collection of books and manuscripts, including the world-famous Book of Kells, which is considered to be one of the first highlights of European illumination. Two of the four volumes can be seen open alternately. The pages are turned regularly. Also worth seeing are the National Museum and Gallery, the City Museum, the Modern Art Gallery and the Zoological Garden.

Dublin has a bustling pub and music scene. The pubs and the typical dark Guinness beer are world famous. Many visitors also walk in the footsteps of famous poets and playwrights such as JAMES JOYCE, GEORGE BERNHARD SHAW, SEAN O´CASEY or JONATHAN SWIFT. Lovers of books and antiques will find many beautiful items in well-stocked shops.

The diverse industry produces especially consumer goods, food and luxury goods. The famous Guinness beer has been brewed in Dublin since 1759. Numerous foreign industrial and service companies, particularly from the high-tech sector, have settled in several industrial parks. Dublin has the largest and most important port in the Republic of Ireland.

The cityscape was shaped in Dublin’s heyday, the 18th century. Wide streets, parks, apartment buildings and public buildings show the Georgian style. The most beautiful buildings from this period include the Old Parliament, Leinster House, Mansion House, City Hall, Custom House and Trinity College. The current building of the Christ Church Cathedral, founded in 1038, was built between 1870 and 1878, the early Gothic Saint Patrick’s Cathedral was restored in the 19th century.

History

Dublin’s history goes back to a Viking settlement. In the 9th century Vikings established a fortified settlement on the south bank of the Liffey, which has been the center of the Viking Kingdom of Dublin since the 10th century. From 1170 to 1172 the city was conquered by the Anglo-Normans, who built a Norman castle in the 13th century. Dublin was the first Irish city to be placed under the English crown and was the starting point for the conquest of the island. In 1916 the city was the main venue for the Irish Easter Rising, and in 1922 Dublin became the capital of the Republic of Ireland.

Capital Dublin

Irish art

Irish art, the art of the Celtic people of Ireland from their Christianization in the 5th century to the establishment of English rule over the island (1171/72).

Since there was no Roman tradition in Ireland, the La Tène culture was initially the starting point for a largely independent artistic development (Celtic art). As a result of the missionary work of Irish monks, inter alia also Armenian, Syrian and Coptic suggestions to Ireland.

The early examples of Irish architecture are simple constructions made of fieldstone without mortar (Gallarus Oratory, County Kerry, 6th or 7th century). The monasteries were surrounded by thick circular walls, oratories and cells had no windows. The churches were almost windowless and had high stone roofs (Saint Kevin, Glendalough, around 850). Since the middle of the 9th century, slender, up to 40 m high round towers were built independently of them, which served as bell towers and refuges (Cashel, Clonmacnoise, Kells). One of the most important examples of Irish architecture is Cormac’s Chapel in Cashel (1127–34), where Anglo-Norman influence is evident. 1142 was with the assistance of Saint Malachias, temporarily Archbishop of Armagh, founded the first Cistercian monastery in Ireland (Mellifont, County Luth). The new contacts to the mainland led to a standardization of the Irish monastery architecture in ground plan and elevation.

The most important achievement of Irish sculpture are the stone crosses up to 9 m high with figure friezes on the shaft and the relief enclosed in a ring with a crucifix or a depiction of Christ as the judge of the world (Clonmacnoise, Kells, Monasterboice near Drogheda).

The Illumination, which had known only Initialornamentik in Celtic design (especially Fischblasen- and spiral pattern), took place in the second half of the 7th century Germanic Flechtband- and animal ornamentation and figural representations, as in the Book of Durrow (at 660-80; Dublin, Trinity College Library), originated in a Benedictine monastery in Northumbria, and in the Book of Kells (probably after 800; Dublin, ibid).

Among the preserved goldsmith’s work, v. a. the »fibula of Tara« (end of the 7th century; Dublin, National Museum of Ireland), a silver clasp with gold filigree, enamel and gemstones, and the silver »chalice of Ardagh«, adorned with ornaments made of gold, gilded bronze and inlays (Beginning of the 8th century; Dublin, ibid). After the invasion of the Vikings (9th-11th centuries), new techniques (e.g. Niello) and Scandinavian styles (Ringerikestil, Urnesstil) were conveyed to Ireland. The emphasis on ornamentation remained binding for metal art (hand bells, book and reliquary shrines) beyond the 10th century. Under English rule, Irish art participated in the development of English art.