IRELAND, DUBLIN: IRISH WRITERS WALKING TOUR, PART II (ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL AND MARSH'S LIBRARY)

 July 13, 2024

After lunch we headed to St. Patrick's Park, where a church has stood for over 1300 years. Today the church on that spot is known as St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin (there are a bazillion St. Patrick's churches in Ireland), and it is not only the national cathedral of the Church of Ireland, but also the largest church building in Ireland. A small part of the present church on the site dates all the way back to its 8th century origins.

The park and cathedral are notable for a couple of reasons.  First, tradition has it that about 1500 years ago, St. Patrick baptized the first Irish Christians in a well located next to the cathedral. 

The legend is supported by this artifact: a thousand-year-old engraving of a Celtic cross on a stone that was found in 1901 six feet underground covering the remains of an ancient well. 

NORTHERN IRELAND: ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL (ROMAN CATHOLIC) OF ARMAGH AND DOWN CATHEDRAL (CHURCH OF IRELAND) OF DOWNPATRICK

 July 11, 2024

We made our way from the Protestant Saint Patrick's Cathedral to the Catholic Saint Patrick's Cathedral and were amused to see the figure on The Bishop's Monument looking over the valley at the rival church. With his right hand raised in blessing and his left indicating the spire of his own church, he seems to be making a statement about which church is better.

To be honest, I have to agree with him. This cathedral was built in phases between 1840 and 1904 after the Church of Ireland appropriated the medieval Cathedral of Saint Patrick discussed in the previous post. This cathedral is a significant structure for Catholics, who have a relatively weak presence in Northern Ireland.

I love the Gothic style, including this arcade of apostolic statues.

NORTHERN IRELAND, ARMAGH: ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL (CHURCH OF IRELAND)

 July 11, 2024

It was time to get back on the road, so we headed south from Belfast in our rental car, a definite upgrade from the one that had broken down on us a few days prior.

I should reiterate here that I am so grateful for Bob's excellent wrong-side-of-the-road driving skills. He does a great job handling manual shifting with his left hand and staying on the left side of the road. (The rental cars have reminders for tourists posted on the windshield.)

On our way out of Belfast, we saw this huge piece of geometric art looming over the freeway. Google Image has helped me identify it as RISE, a sculpture designed by Wolfgang Buttress that consists of a geodesic dome suspended inside a 98-foot diameter sphere. According to Wikipedia, "The inner sphere represents the sun rising over the bogs and the outer sphere represents the sun's halo, while the angled, steel supports are to represent the reeds of the bog meadows that extended more widely across the area before it was developed."  Wow, I'm glad I have Wikipedia. I never would have surmised all of that by looking at it.

It's still a bit of a shock for me to see King Charles's face in place of Queen Elizabeth's. The Northern Irish seem to have made the adjustment just fine.