Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 01-661 1000;
www.littlemuseum.ie
;
15 St Stephen's Green North; adult/student/child €6/5/4; 10am-5pm
Mon-Fri)
The idea is ingeniously simple: a museum, spread across two rooms of an elegant
Georgian building, devoted to the history of Dublin in the 20th century, made up of mem-
orabilia contributed by the general public. You don't need to know anything about Irish
history or Dublin to appreciate it: visits are by guided tour and everyone is presented with
a handsome booklet on the history of the city.
Since opening in 2011, the contributions have been impressive - amid the nostalgic
posters, time-worn bric-a-brac and wonderful photographs of personages and cityscapes
of yesteryear are some extraordinary finds, including a lectern used by JFK on his 1963
visit to Ireland and an original copy of the fateful letter given to the Irish envoys to the
treaty negotiations of 1921, whose contradictory instructions were at the heart of the split
that resulted in the Civil War. There's also a new cafe on the premises.
IVEAGH GARDENS
( dawn-dusk year-round; all city centre, St Stephen's Green)
These beautiful gardens may not
have the sculpted elegance of the other city parks, but they never get too crowded and the
warden won't bark at you if you walk on the grass. They were designed by Ninian Niven
in 1863 as the private grounds of
Iveagh House
, and include a rustic grotto, cascade, foun-
tain, maze and rosarium. Enter the gardens from Clonmel St, off Harcourt St.
GARDENS
MANSION HOUSE
(Dawson St; all city centre, St Stephen's Green)
Built in 1710 by Joshua Dawson - after whom
the street is named - this has been the official residence of Dublin's mayor since 1715,
and was the site of the 1919 Declaration of Independence and the meeting of the first par-
liament. The building's original brick Queen Anne style has all but disappeared behind a
stucco facade added in the Victorian era.
NOTABLE BUILDING
ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY
LIBRARY
( 01-676 2570;
www.ria.ie
; 19 Dawson St; 10am-5.30pm Mon-Thu, 10am-5pm Fri; all city centre, St
Stephen's Green)
F
Ireland's pre-eminent society of letters has an 18th-century library that is
home to several important documents, including a collection of ancient manuscripts such
as the
Book of Dun Cow;
the
Cathach of St Columba;
and the entire collection of 19th-
century poet Thomas Moore (1779-1852).
