As the restoration of St. Mel’s Cathedral by Fitzgerald Kavanagh + Partners has been announced as the Winner of the Public Choice Award at the 2015 RIAI Irish Architecture Awards, we re-publish here our article on St. Mel’s by Andrew Halpin and Nicola Gordon Bowe
During the night of Christmas Eve, 2009 a disastrous fire destroyed the interior and furnishings of St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford. The architectural, artistic and spiritual loss was huge, particularly to the people of Longford. Watching the dramatic footage of the fire, however, my first thoughts – like those of my colleagues in the National Museum of Ireland – were not for the architecture or artistic treasures of the Cathedral. Rather, I thought of the little Diocesan Museum housed within the building which, I knew, contained a number of artefacts of national importance. Sure enough, in the aftermath of the fire the National Museum and the Cathedral authorities agreed that a National Museum team would mount an operation to try to recover any artefacts from the Diocesan Museum which had survived the fire. I was asked to lead the team.
The new Lexicon is a worthy member of Dublin’s distinguished group of public libraires, writes James Howley in his appraisal of the controversial new building.
Woven from original designs by Peter Paul Rubens, the Decius Mus tapestries have been reinstalled in Kilkenny Castle following major conservation in Madrid, writes Jane Fenlon
It is the implication of something beyond a simple landscape that makes Martin Gale’s art so compelling, writes Alison FitzGerald as his exhibition continues at Taylor Galleries, Dublin