Treasures of Cork past and present opened up to public

CORKONIANS WILL get a chance to step back in time next weekend when some of the city’s most historic buildings are opened to the public in a series of guided tours and talks as part of Cork Heritage Open Day on Saturday August 28th.

Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Michael O’Connell said the Heritage Open Day provided a unique opportunity for Corkonians to visit some of the city’s most noted buildings, buildings which are rarely open to the public, as well as exploring other fascinating aspects of the city’s past.

“For the first time ever, we’re opening up the Lord Mayor’s office here in City Hall and I will be telling the story of Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney and the fact that the portraits we have of both men were donated by another former lord mayor, Gerald Goldberg.

“We have many of the oldest buildings in the city being opened to the public, but we also have some of the newest like the extension here to City Hall, the Elysian Tower and the penthouse suite on the Clarion Hotel so there’s a great mix of old and new.”

Among the historic buildings open to the public on Saturday next are the Masonic Hall on Tuckey Street, which has been the home of Freemasonry in Cork since 1844 and the Unitarian Church on Princes Street, the oldest documented surviving building in the city.

Local historian Liam Ó hUigín will give a guided tour of the old walls of the city, while there will also be tours of Cork City Hall and the Washington Street courthouse. Another local historian Ronnie Herlihy will give a guided tour of St Joseph’s Cemetery in Ballyphehane where temperance campaigner Fr Matthew is buried.

Among the other events planned is a screening of a film by pioneering British filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon, who visited Cork in the early 1900s, which is being shown in the Civic Trust House on Pope’s Quay.

Meanwhile, the Cork Vision Centre on North Main Street will host Echoes of the Past , a series of black and white photographs over the past 100 years and the Traveller Visibility Group will host a photographic exhibition at the City Public Museum in Fitzgerald’s Park. Among the events planned for children is a bug and nature hunt in Fitzgerald’s Park and a fun family tour in the Crawford Art Gallery. For further information log on to www.corkheritageopenday.ie