DUBLIN - Ireland 2014 - page 127

usually large underground crypt, containing stocks, statues, the cathedral's silver, and an
atmospheric café.
Cost and Hours: €6 includes downstairs crypt silver exhibition, €12.25 combo-ticket
includesDublinia(describednext);Mon-Sat9:00-18:00,Sun12:30-14:30;€4guidedtours
Mon-Fri at 11:00, 12:00, 14:00, and 15:00; tel. [phone], www.christchurchdublin.ie .
Evensong: A 45-minute evensong service is sung Wed and Thu at 18:00, Sun at 15:30.
▲ Dublinia
This exhibit, which highlights Dublin's Viking and medieval past, is a hit with youngsters.
The exhibits are laid out on three floors. The ground floor focuses on Viking Dublin, ex-
plaining life aboard a Viking ship and inside a Viking house. Viking traders introduced
urban life and commerce to Ireland—but kids will be most interested in gawking at their
gory weaponry.
The next floor up reveals Dublin's day-to-day life in medieval times, from chivalrous
knights and damsels in town fairs to the brutal ravages of the Plague. Like the rest of
Europeatthattime(1347-1349),Irelandlostone-thirdofitspopulationtotheBlackDeath.
The huge scale model of medieval Dublin is especially well done.
The top floor's “History Hunters” section is devoted to how the puzzles of modern ar-
chaeology and science shed light on Dublin's history. From this floor, you can climb a
couple of flights of stairs into the tower for so-so views of Dublin, or exit across an en-
closed stone bridge to adjacent Christ Church Cathedral.
Cost and Hours: €7.50, €12.25 combo-ticket includes Christ Church Cathedral, daily
March-Sept 10:00-17:00, Oct-Feb 11:00-16:30, last entry 45 minutes before closing, top-
floor coffee shop open in summer, across from Christ Church Cathedral, tel. [phone],
www.dublinia.ie .
St. Patrick's Cathedral
The first church here was built on the site where St. Patrick baptized local pagan converts.
The core of the Gothic structure you see today was built in the 13th century. After the Re-
formation, it passed into the hands of the Anglican Church. A century later, Oliver Crom-
well's puritanical Calvinist troops—who considered the Anglicans to be little more than
Catholics without a pope—stabled their horses here as a sign of disrespect.
Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver's Travels ) was dean of the Cathedral for 32 years in
the 18th century. His grave is located near the front door (on the right side of the nave),
where his cutting, self-penned epitaph reads: “He lies where furious indignation can no
longer rend his heart.” Check out the large wooden Door of Reconciliation hanging in
the north transept, with the rough hole in the middle. This was the Chapter House door