Churches of Dublin

Hey there folks,

When most people learned I was headed to Ireland, I was met with the usual. “Oh you’ve just got to go the Irish Alcoholic Producer of International Fame’s brewery/distillery!” Which is all well and good, because I welcome wholesome advice, but there is plenty more to see in Ireland than just getting smashed before a +2000km walk. Ireland isn’t just about booze (though I do love my booze) for my love of fine architecture and culture trumped my desire to have pint after pint – I can buy Irish booze back home. As a new mate of mine just said, “You can have great Guinness in any part of Ireland.”

That being said, I did go to the Guinness Storehouse because I am a huge fan of Guinness and would happily drown in the stuff.

Now then, I hear you ask, if you had the entire day in Dublin and you didn’t go get smashhammered, what did you do?

Why, churches of course!

I absolutely love looking at these architectural marvels of ages long past. My family once visited the cathedral in Fribourg, Swissland, and our guide explained that most of the timbers used required 80+ years to mature. Imagine, then, being a medieval master builder and knowing that the work you are crafting won’t be finished until long after you’ve passed, yet the building itself has immortalized you forever.

It’s simply beautiful when you stop and realize that fact.

Today skyscrapers go up in several years and are torn down to be replaced in just as many decades. But these churches, these monuments to ages long past, have been standing tall for centuries, a living embodiment to the stubbornness of belief, and the beauty of Nature coupled with the tenacity of mankind. You don’t need be Catholic or ~~heretic~~ Protestant or anything, really, to simply enjoy these beautiful buildings of old.

Now then, enough jibber jabber, here’s some bitchin’ old churches right in Dublin proper, lad.

The Cathedral of Saint Patrick, that lovable Englishman who killed snakes and pagans alike! I did not go into this church because they charged an entry fee and I am fundamentally opposed to paying for entry into a house of God. However, the layout is delightfully Gothic and the grounds are very enjoyable. I could get used to this green grass stuff.

This wall dates back to the Anglo-Norman conquest of the late 1100s and is one of the last remnants of said wall. This wall is older than the United States x3, to put it into perspective. When we have long crumbled into the dust of history, comrades, what will our ancestors look upon and marvel?

Of course the first church I stopped at was the Church of Saint James (yeah, that Saint James). The building was erected in the 1800s so it is scarcely old by European standards. According to the placard on the outside, the chap who designed this building fathered two of the leaders of the Easter Uprising. Bravo!

Church of the Blessed Virgin and Saint John the Baptist. Why have one church per saint when you can just double up, eh? This one is near my hostel and I see it every time I walk outside the door. The busy street in front isn’t so bueno, but the decor and layout are absolutely stunning.