Christmas Culture Trail
Dublin sparkles throughout December, with winter lights and cultural treats all within easy walk of the Merrion Hotel. Follow our itinerary for an ideal and illuminated Dublin afternoon, which promises you the earth, and will have you seeing stars.
Starting out after lunch at The Merrion Hotel, walk down via Merrion Square to the National Gallery of Ireland, less than five minutes away on foot. The Gallery’s wonderful collection includes works by Caravaggio, Vermeer, Degas and Cezanne, while Irish artists are represented by Jack Yeats, Daniel Maclise, Mainie Jellett, Harry Clarke and more. The permanent collection is free to visit, and December sees two new exhibitions to enjoy.
Sarah Purser was one of the most influential women in Irish arts. Not only was she a noted portrait artist, she was a trailblazer too. The first woman to become a full member of our other near-neighbour, the Royal Hibernian Academy, she set up and financially supported An Túr Gloine (literally “the glass tower”) the stained glass studio inaugurated in 1903. An Túr Gloine artists included Evie Hone, Wilhelmina Geddes and Michael Healy, and their works illuminate some of Ireland’s most beautiful churches. Purser herself made relatively few stained glass windows, but you can see one beautiful example at St Patrick’s Cathedral, where her window depicting King Cormac of Cashel shines.
At the National Gallery, Sarah Purser: Private Worlds shows a selection of her oil paintings including intimate portraits and domestic scenes. Admission is free, and the exhibition runs until February 25th. No booking required. ( Image Credit – Sarah Purser, A Visitor, 1865 – detail. Private Collection)
More portraits are on show from December 2nd until March 10th next year, with the Zurich Portrait Prize exhibitions. See the work of the twenty five shortlisted artists, using everything from oil paint to photography, pastels to clay, and even a pinhole camera to make portraits of famous people, friends and family members. Alongside this, the Zurich Young Portrait Prize features work by artists from the ages of six to eighteen. Can you spot the artists of the future? Admission is free and no booking is necessary.
Have a browse in the Gallery Bookshop, and then leave by the Clare Street Entrance. Cross the road to Trinity College, walking alongside the pitches, where hardy members of the college sports teams will be training, or possibly refreshing themselves with less sporty students in the Pavilion Bar. You are heading for the famous Old Library. The library itself is one of the most beautiful and historic spaces in the already beautiful college, hosting the world renowned medieval illuminated manuscript the Book of Kells.
The Old Library is said to have inspired the Jedi Archives in Star Wars (Episode II – Attack of the Clones), but you’re here for something truly out of this world. Luke Jerram’s Gaia is an illuminated sculpture of Planet Earth, six metres in diameter. Appearing to float in the Long Room of the library, it is a view of Earth usually reserved for astronauts in orbit. Named for the Greek Earth goddess, Gaia, the artist says he hopes it will encourage people to think about the beauty of our world, and the steps we need to keep it, and ourselves, safe for the future. Gaia has been installed to mark an ambitious conservation plan for the library and its contents. Booking essential, from €19. Includes The Book of Kells.
If you have timed things right, it will be getting dark as you leave Trinity, which makes it the ideal time to soak up Winter Lights, Dublin’s annual celebration of light in the darkest month of the year. Artists from Ireland, and around the world have contributed designs for landmarks across the city. In the spirit of Gaia, the lights are low energy LED, and they are all sustainably powered. If you’re feeling energetic, head out via Trinity’s Front Gate to see the facades of the Bank of Ireland at College Green, and Trinity itself all lit up (find a map online at dublinwinterlights.ie), or head back to The Merrion and enjoy the lights at Merrion Square Park. Access to the park itself is ticketed in the evenings during Winter Lights, but you can enjoy the scene from the street, as you wind your way back home to The Merrion for a warming hot chocolate, or perhaps an Irish Coffee or two by the fire in the hotel’s Drawing Rooms and Bar.
Guests of The Merrion can book tickets and get more information on cultural events in the City in December through the Hotel Concierge.
