National Heritage Week – a failure in Ireland?
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I am reading the programme of this week 3/10 September and again this year it seems that, in Dublin at least, nothing that is normally closed to viewing is going to be open to view.
This is completely different from what applies in other countries in that the focus there is on premises, usually closed, which are opened especially (usually on the weekend). Here the focus is on OPW /Ducas/Corpo or other facilities normally open having worthy “walks” “guided tours” and ,only sometimes, reduced admission charges.
So basically you can see the same things that week as any other. I find it strange that while other countries can persuade firms or institutions (universities for example) to open their doors, the best Ireland can do is a guided walk.
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I’d be interested to know other people’s views on this. In England this year, they’re hoping for a million visitors on heritage open days. London “Open House”, which is run separately, last year had 350,000 visitors to around 500 properties.
Is the feeling that the organisers cannot get the private buildings opened up in Ireland? Because that’s certainly the appeal of it over here – the “through the keyhole” thing. In London, the main problem is overcrowding – you have to queue for hours to get into the most popular venues.
France beats the UK hollow, of course, with colossal numbers of properties (mostly public sector) flung open and huge visitor numbers.
What in the opinion of this forum could best be done to improve the Open Days in Ireland? Or to put it another way, what’s wrong with the set-up at present?
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It needs to be led from the top down. We need to open:
Government Departments – Department of Commerce Kildare Street, Busaras, Leinster House, Government Offices
University properties – Newman House, all of Trinity College
Churches – most Church of Ireland properties are closed except for services
Just off te top of my head in Dublin.
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Amen to that.
In Brussels too the vast majority of sites open are usually closed to the public or heavily restricted otherwise, – historic houses, public buildings such as the town halls of the various communes etc.
Anyone check to see if anything not normally is included anywhere in Ireland in the printed book for Heritage Week, I gave up at Dublin?
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25 Eustace Street, Temple Bar. Who’d have thought an entire Georgian townhouse, from 1720, has managed to survive intact in a part of Dublin that seems to have been converted into one large pub? Talk and tour of the house. Places limited. Wed Sept 6th, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Free. Irish
Landmark Trust, 01-6704733. -
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