Dublin City Libraries will be closed from Saturday 3 to Monday 5 May 2025 (inclusive). Our online services will continue as usual. We will reopen on Tuesday, 6 May.
The Central Library are hosting a new series by Dublin City Council Historian in Residence Dr Mary Muldowney which takes a look at retail streets like Henry Street and how they have changed over the last 100 years or so.
Down by The Salley Gardens, Thíos cois garraithe na Saillí le WB Yeats
Bhain slua maith taitneamh as seo ó Ghuthanna Binne Síoraí (Everlasting Voices) ar Lá Filíochta na hÉireann, Déardaoin, 26 d’Aibreáin i mBliain na Gaeilge, 2018. Bhí filíocht ó WB Yeats curtha i láthair i mbéarla agus Gaeilge ag Cathal Quinn, Acadamh Lir agus seinnteoir, Enda Reilly. D’aistrigh Gabriel Rosenstock na dánta ó bhéarla go Gaeilge.We celebrated Poetry Day Ireland, 26 April and Bliain na Gaeilge with a great event, "I Hear It in the Deep Heart’s Core" with Guthanna Binne Síoraí at Dublin City Library and Archive.
Doing their bit: Irish women and the First World War
Doing their bit: Irish women and the First World War is a new exhibition in Dublin City Library and Archive in Pearse Street. The exhibition centres on the impact that the First World War had on the lives of Irish women and the new opportunities that opened up for them.
"Dublin Remembers 1916" has been an extensive series of lectures, talks by expert historians, exhibitions and conferences in Dublin libraries, City Hall, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and other venues in the city throughout 2016.
Launch of Richmond Barracks 1916: We were there - photos
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Críona Ní Dhálaigh, launched the book 'Richmond Barracks 1916: We were there, 77 women of the Easter Rising' to a packed audience at the Chapel, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin 8, on International Women's Day, Tuesday, 8 March 2016.
The 50th anniversary of the destruction of Nelson's Pillar occurred on Tuesday, 8th March 2016, and to mark the occasion Dublin City Archives held a commemorative event entailing a talk by historian Donal Fallon, poetry read by Alastair Smeaton, and ballads by Luke Cheevers and Tony Fitzpatrick.View the photo slideshow of the event below. View the photos on flickr.The full programme was as follows:Extract from Evening Correspondent (Dated 16 February 1808). Read by Alastair SmeatonLord Nelson (Tommy Makem). Ballad sung by Tony FitzpatrickThe Pillar: the Life and Afterlife of the Nelson Pillar. Talk given by Donal FallonAdmiral Nelson (Luke Cheevers). Ballad sung by Luke CheeversDublin (Louis MacNeice). Poem read by Alastair SmeatonNelson’s Farewell (Joe Dolan from Galway). Ballad sung by Tony Fitzpatrick
Given the day that is in it, it is fitting that staff in Rathmines Library have dressed in costume to mark Bloomsday 2015. This is not by mere chance: James Joyce was born in Rathmines and spent his early years there. Read more below, but first you must admire the costumes on display today....(Click images above to view larger version)Joyce, the Rathmines ConnectionArguably Ireland’s greatest literary genius and a leading proponent of modernism in fiction, James Joyce was born at 41 Brighton Square and spent his earliest years there and in 23 Castlewood Avenue. But as the fortunes of the family declined, the Joyces moved to cheaper accommodation and Joyce was never again to live in Rathmines, leaving Ireland with Nora Barnacle in 1904. He was to spend the rest of his life in Italy and France, paying his last visit to Ireland in 1912. Despite this, he obsessively recorded the minute details of Dublin life in his great work Ulysses and the hero of the novel is considered to embody both the “Everyman” of the twentieth century and the archetypal Dubliner.Rathmines and Beyond: A Literary HeritageRathmines and its surrounding areas could make a convincing argument for being the most literary quarter of our literary city. Birthplace of James Joyce, born at a time when Rathmines’ image was solid, bourgeois and red-brick, the township changed over time, so that by the early 20th century it had become a positive hotbed of political activists and creative types. As the century progressed, its large houses were divided into separate units - "flatland" came into being, and Rathmines became the first stop for many young people moving from the countryside into Dublin. This trend was discontinued in the early 21st century, but throughout all these changes, the area remained home to a wide range of journalists and novelists, poets and playwrights, writers’ groups and reading clubs, with its fine library very much at the heart of this literary activity.Read more about the many literary figures that lived in and around the Rathmines area.
We thought this scan from last Saturday when members of the public came along to the Mansion House to share their memories of said beautiful building particularly interesting. Might you agree?The photo (see below) shows the winner of the 1977 Men's World dancing championship, Jimmy Johnston from Dundalk, centre, together with the runner-up and third placed. . The event of course took place in the Round Room of the Mansion House. Many thanks to Jimmy for permissions to use the photo.Note the runner-up, one Mike Flatley from Chicago. I wonder... ?Click the image below to view larger version.Share Your MemoriesCelebrating Bealtaine and 300 years as the official Mayoral residence, The Mansion House and Dublin City Public Libraries invite you to share your memory with us on Wednesday 27th May. You can share these memories and even to bring along old photographs you have of the Mansion House. You can also come along and soak up the atmosphere of this splendid residence of Dublin’s first citizen by going on a tour of the magnificent building.What is your favourite memory of the Mansion House? Have you been to a concert, a craft fair, a reception or a ball?You may have visited the live animal crib with your children, or witnessed a Freedom of the City conferral ceremony on the Forecourt.Whatever your memory, please join us to share your photos and stories as part of The Mansion House programme to celebrate 300 years as the official Mayoral residence and a cornerstone in Dublin city. The Library Learning Bus will be at the Mansion House Forecourt, Dawson Street, Dublin 2 from 10.30am to 4.30pm on Wednesday 27th May. A guided tour will take place at 11am (places are limited - advance booking essential). The house will be open from 12pm to 4pm for walk-through viewings.For further information and to book a place on the tour, please contact the Mansion House. T. 222 6200. E. [email protected]
