IRELAND, DUBLIN: IRISH WRITERS WALKING TOUR, PART III (CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, THE MESSIAH, AND THE TEMPLE BAR)

 July 13, 2024

The next park of our walking tour was not particularly literary, but it was very interesting. Having just toured the largest Protestant cathedral in Dublin, St. Patrick's Cathedral, we now arrived at the largest Catholic cathedral in the city, Christ Church Cathedral. The cathedral was founded by the Vikings in the early 11th century, making it a 160 years or so older than St. Patrick's. Like all ancient churches, it was rebuilt several times, achieving its present form in the late 19th century.

The final renovations from 1871 to 1878 were funded by the whiskey distiller Henry Roe, who many have been trying to outdo Benjamin Guinness's renovations of St. Patrick's, which had been completed in 1865.

Pointed Gothic arches . . .

. . . a beautiful mosaic floor . . . 

. . . and an intricately carved pulpit--all exceptionally beautiful.

But the most awesome and unique accoutrement in the cathedral has to be the preserved heart of St. Laurence O'Toole, who presided as Archbishop of Dublin and served in this church in the 1150s. When he died in France in 1180, his heart was returned to his church, placed in a wooden heart-shaped container, and sealed in a small iron-barred cage, where it remained until 2012, when it was stolen. To everyone's relief, it was recovered in 2018 and returned to the church, where it was placed in a less accessible case.

Another fun piece of decor in the cathedral is the tomb of Strongbow, aka Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke and former King of Leinster, the southeastern province of Ireland. Strongbow's arrival in Ireland from Wales and his marriage to the Irish king's daughter marks the beginning of English presence and control in the country. When Strongbow died in Dublin in 1176, he was entombed here in the Christ Church Cathedral. In a strange twist of fate, his tomb was broken in half when the cathedral's roof collapsed on it in 1562. When they repaired the tomb, the effigy of another knight, one in chainmail, was mistakenly placed there. 

Walk around to the other side and you'll see a second tomb and effigy that appears to be that of a child. Tradition has it that the two figures are Strongbow and his son. This would be the son that Strongbow had executed for deserting the military. Very tender.

Even though much of it was rebuilt in later architectural styles, parts of the Christ Church Cathedral feel more medieval than St. Patrick's Cathedral.

I was surprised to see this miniature of Thorvaldsen's Christus in a stone niche. The original was carved in 1833, making it quite modern compared to the building itself.

The underground crypt is the oldest (constructed in 1172-1173) and largest (208 feet long) crypt in either Britain or Ireland. It is appropriately spooky, the perfect setting for a Gothic novel.

The statue below has a carved plate that reads (and I copied the capitalization exactly): "Sacred to the Memory of John Lord Bowes, late Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Who Died in the Seventy Sixth Year of his Age: July the 22nd, AD, one thousand Seven hundred Sixty Seven. This Monument is Erected By his affectionate Brother, Rumsey Bowes Esq of Binfield Berks."  It's a particularly bizarre sculpture.

The crypt contains an extensive treasury. The plate below was commissioned by King William III (1650-1702) for use in his royal chapel in Dublin.

The crypt also contains a 14th-century copy of the Magna Carta, the original having been signed in 1215.

One of the most bizarre displays I've ever seen is this mummified cat and rat. They were discovered trapped inside the organ during a restoration project in the 1870s. Perhaps the rat jumped into the organ to escape the cat, and the cat followed. Lack of oxygen inside the organ case led to their desiccation. 

One more memorial that I found interesting is this tribute to a ship's surgeon who died on an Arctic expedition.

We had a couple more places to visit before we were done with Dublin, including the site of the first performance of Handel's Messiah, which occurred in 1742, a year before its premiere in London. The audience was so large that ladies were asked to leave their hoop skirts at home in order to make more room. Handel was very well known by this time, but another draw was the notorious contralto Susannah Cibber, who was at the time tangled up in a scandalous divorce.

Nowadays the Irish are monetizing the name much more than the music, although the Messiah is still regularly performed.

This statue of a naked man holding a baton is somehow commemorative of that first performance of the Messiah.

Not far away is a neighborhood known as Temple Bar, which has at times been a wealthy area and at others the center of the red light district. Today is looks like it is home to lots of pubs . . .

. . . and some cultural institutions such as the Irish Rock 'n' Roll Museum.

Temple Bar also include lots of nods to James Joyce, who apparently liked hanging out here. I liked this mural depicting characters from Joyce's most challenging work, Ulysses. It is painted on Bloom's Hotel, named for the protagonist of Ulysses.

I also liked these random modern paintings of Joyce and his muse/girlfriend/eventual wife (after being together 26 years) Nora Barnacle.

Even the restaurants get in on the action. This menu, which includes Joyce's image, is from Lincoln's Inn, where supposedly Joyce used to hang out while he was waiting for Nora to finish her work as a chambermaid in a nearby hotel.

Well, that was it for Dublin and for Ireland too, as a matter of fact.  It was time to go home.