Page 96 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Ireland

94  DUBLIN AREA B Y AREA

5 James Joyce
Centre James Joyce
(1882–1941)
35 North Great George’s St. Map D1. Born in Dublin, Joyce spent most
Tel 878 8547. Open 10am–5pm Tue– of his adult life in Europe. He
Sat, noon–5pm Sun. Closed Good Fri, used the city of Dublin as the
21 Dec–3 Jan & public hols. & 8 setting for all his major works
∑ jamesjoyce.ie including Dubliners, A Portrait
This agreeable stop on the literary of the Artist as a Young Man and
tourist trail is primarily a meeting Ulysses. Joyce claimed that if
the city was ever destroyed it
place for Joyce enthusiasts, but could be re created through
is also worth visiting for its the pages of Ulysses, one of
Georgian interior. The centre is the most important works
in a 1784 town house which of Modernist literature.
was built for the Earl of
Kenmare. Michael Stapleton,
one of the greatest stuccoers Importance of Being Oscar, his
of his time, contributed to the long-running one-man show
plasterwork, of which the friezes about the writer Oscar Wilde
are particularly noteworthy. (see p26). An early success was
The centre’s permanent and Denis Johnston’s The Old Lady
temporary exhibitions interpret Says No, so-called because of
and illuminate aspects of Joyce’s the margin notes made on one
life and work. Among the of his scripts by Lady Gregory,
displays are biographies of real founding direc tor of the Abbey
people on whom Joyce based Theatre (see p92). Although still
his characters. Professor Dennis noted for staging new plays, the
J Maginni, a peripheral character Gate’s current output often
in Ulysses, ran a dancing school includes classic Irish plays.
from this town house. Leopold The Gate Theatre, where new and classic Among the young talent to
and Molly Bloom, the central plays are staged get their first break here were
characters of Ulysses, lived a James Mason and a teenage
short walk away at No. 7 Eccles 6 Gate Theatre Orson Welles.
Street. The centre also organizes 1 Cavendish Row. Map D1. Open for
walking tours of Joyce’s Dublin. performances only. Box office: Tel 874
At the top of the road, on 4045. Open 10am–7pm Mon–Sat. 7 Rotunda Hospital
Great Denmark Street, is the See also Entertainment in Dublin p112. Parnell Square West. Map D1.
Jesuit-run Belvedere College ∑ gatetheatre.ie Tel 817 1700. ∑ rotunda.ie
attended by Joyce between
1893 and 1898. He recalls his Renowned for its staging of Standing in the middle of
unhappy schooldays there in A contemporary international Parnell Square is Europe’s
Portrait of the Artist as a Young drama in Dublin, the Gate first purpose-built maternity
Man. The college’s interior Theatre was founded in 1928 hos pital. Founded in 1745 by
contains some of Stapleton’s by Hilton Edwards and Mícheál Dr Bartholomew Mosse, the
best and most colourful Mac Liammóir. The latter is now design of the hospital is
plasterwork (1785). best remembered for The similar to that of Leinster
House (see p69). German-born
architect Richard Cassels
designed both buildings, as
well as Powerscourt Centre
(see p82) and Russborough
House (see pp136–7).
On the first floor is a beautiful
chapel featuring striking stained-
glass windows and exuberant
Rococo plaster work and ceiling
(1755) by the German stuccoer
Bartholomew Cramillion. The
ceiling portrays the symbol of
fertility and the virtues of faith,
hope and charity.
Nowadays, over 8,000 babies
are born in the Rotunda
Stained-glass Venetian window (c.1863) in Rotunda Hospital’s chapel Hospital every year.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp296–7 and pp308–11

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
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Date 5th December 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm