On Friday the 23 of September, Dublin hosted its 7th annual Cultural Night– where museums, galleries, churches, historic houses, and other cultural places welcome people for a free night of special events and entertainment. What a wonderful opportunity for people to access and support culture in Dublin In fact, it was difficult to choose where to spend our time since there were endless choices (Naturally most of these places are still open to visit year-round just not for free.) Scott and I browsed through the program discussing the possibilities over afternoon tea and dinner with the girls trying to determine which part of the city to focus, so we all had venues to enjoy. I think we chose well.
Culture Night Logo
First brief stop -park(ing) investigating. Only one discovery- a large mirror encompassing the space. We unfortunately did not see any other park spots and could not search too much since we needed to hurry to make our planned visit.
Park(ing) Day- great way to think about how to use space!
First Stop: St. Patrick’s Cathedral to hear Evensong. We thought it would a lovely start to the evening since we had yet to visit this monumental cathedral. (Yes, we we could hear Evensong on other nights.) To try and find the words to describe this place of beauty is a challenge; It has historical an architectural significance, and naturally a beautiful place to worship. It was built to honor Ireland’s patron saint, Saint Patrick. I guess it stand adjacent to the well where St. Patrick is said to have baptized converts while he was visiting Dublin. (More reading to do on that.) Looking at dates- the church received official collegiate status in 1191 and cathedral status 33 years later. Amazing- being present in places that date so long ago. I also read the current site of the cathedral dates from 1220.
On the grounds of St. Patrick’s Cathedral
The music of the choir, as you can imagine was divine, magical. You could see the choir school building which dates from the 1400’s as you queued up to enter the church, further evidence on the solid tradition of music we would hear. I tried to takes mental photos, and encouraged Grace to do the same, of the incredible stained glass windows and the way the light shone through them. Truly beautiful! Grace and I shared a spot in one pew while Emmie and Scott in another behind us. Yes, it was quite crowded. If only the people in front of us would have realized the impact of their parenting choice to remain with their disruptive children, the service would have been even more lovely for the pew of people in front and in back of them. Tough for three-four year olds not to fidget; and yes, I’ve e certainly been there as a parent, but I must admit, I do resent these parents a bit for not thinking about the people around them. It was a good situation to practice mindfulness and positive thinking- trying to block them out and appreciate the beauty around us. The mom finally departed with 5 minutes left of the concert. Smiles and head nods indicating content and relief were shared among the people sitting near us. We toured around the cathedral just for a bit afterwards and promised to return.
We packed food in a backpack (ruck-sac, I believe it’s called here) and stopped periodically along the street to nourish ourselves with sandwiches, veggies, and other treats.
Second Stop: Gallery Zozimus, I read about this gallery in the Best of Dublin magazine and perused its website, so we were interested to see what the gallery might be like. We adored the work of Paul Colreavy and enjoyed talking with the gallery owner about this artist’s work. Interesting to discover that he is a teacher; perhaps not his first love, but painting alone was not paying the bills. Across the street, on an abandoned building’s wall, a graffiti artist worked on a piece. The owner spoke to us about getting permission from…someone, the city (?) to provide a location for him and the need for an outlet for others to practice their art. We had an interesting discussion about the difference between art and vandalism. He seems like a really interesting guy – a strong advocate for all artists. Another reason we liked this gallery was that Emmie and Grace were able to have some fun making a ceramic figurine. Two Maggies, one a ceramicist the other a glass-maker, acting as her assistant, helped the girls and others create something out of a ball of clay. They had a ball – tee, hee – and will be able to bring their pig and unicorn home once they have been glazed and fired. We await the phone call from Maggie (the ceramicist).
Gallery Zozimus
The girls playing with clay at Gallery Zozimus
Graffiti artist
Third Stop: Chester Beatty Library – Wow, wow, wow!! This is much more than a library. It is in fact, a museum and library that includes manuscripts, prints, drawings, rare books and more, collected during Sir Alfred Chester Beatty’s adult lifetime. HIs collection houses works or art and religion from various countries in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. There was also his collection of paintings on loan from the National Gallery in London. Can I say a few more dozen wows? It was here, at this incredible place, that I noticed myself having a few of those moments of genuine appreciation, and recognizing that this is one of many wonderful reasons we’re here.
First, as we poked around the first room we entered, the East Asian Collection, I noticed Emmie closely examining each item. I remembered a conversation I had with our friend and Emmie’s teacher Kimber in the spring. We were discussing our trip and keeping up with math curriculum as well as the 4th grade units she would be missing: Africa, Japan, and Festival of the Arts; units I marvel watching teachers, interns and students experience and discover. Kimber mentioned Emmie would undoubtedly grow from her time abroad and be fine without the units. Yes, indeed she is growing….as she gazed at Japanese, Chinese and Islamic painted scrolls and manuscripts from earlier centuries we can’t even fathom, miniature books, some of the first written encyclopedias, swords, beautiful robes and bound books in incredible painted material; she certainly is learning and discovering.
My second moment was after finding Grace- we lost sight of her for only for a few moments; having her phone certainly helped, we had the girls bring them just in case we got separated knowing some of the venues would be crowded. I got a phone call, “Where are you, Mom?” Me- “In the book room near the East Asian Collection and you, I was just wondering where you were.” Grace- “In the painting room.” As I looked around and did not see her, I texted trying to be nonchalant, “Which painting room- I don’t see you?” No answer, but the sight of her lovely face answered my question. She greeted us with an enthusiastic recommendation, “ You have to go see the paintings across the way, they are amazing!”… Grace found the painting collection on loan from the National Gallery. We toured the exhibit; Grace shared her favorites and we alI soaked in and appreciated these stunning works of newly discovered artists. (From the Chester Beatty Library website: Beatty concentrated on purchases of Barbizon School painters (like Corot, Jacque and Millet) and their Realist contemporaries (such as Breton). I look forward to more of those noticeable moments of appreciation for our year abroad.
What a great night of culture – Thank you Dublin!
A Year in Ireland 