Event Guide 28: Ancient Cyprus, Cornucopia exhibition, New Years Eve pubs, Christ Church Bells, National Library, National Archives

Hi all!

Thanks very much for the many nice mails from you, wishing me a Happy Christmas! I appreciate it! I hope you all had a nice Christmas too, did “taste” the Christmas markets and are looking forward to all the festivals and events the new year will bring.

I don’t know about you, but I always find New Year’s Eve a little strange in Ireland. You would expect a big party, similar to the outdoor activities in many other European (Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin, …) and American (New York) cities, but instead it is a surprisingly quiet affair. A bit of an anti-climax, it seems. Another characteristic, but not THAT surprising, is the amazingly expensive entrance fees even in places that are normally free. Cafe en Seine, for example, charges a whopping EUR 15 to get in. Every other day of the year it is free! Opportunistic robbery, in my opinion. Luckily there are a few pubs that don’t rip you off. And the other alternative, the one that is becoming more and more popular it seems, is to have a party at home. Let me know if you are celebrating at home, I don’t have any plans yet. ;-)
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But before I come to New Year’s eve, first a few weekend events. You probably can imagine that this weekend not many events take place. It is a weekend where a lot of people have left Dublin to go home either to other countries or to places outside of Dublin, so events in the City Centre are more or less limited to exhibitions and the regular pub events.

This week is the last opportunity to see “Ceramics and Glass from Ancient Cyprus” in the Museum of Archeology and History in Kildare Street (part of the National Museum). The exhibition closes on the 31st of December. www.museum.ie/archaeology

In the same museum is an Adult Tour on the 29th of Dec (Sat) at 14:00- 15:00 with the title “Ancient Civilisations”, that covers Roman and Egyptian culture and looks at the Cypriotic culture as well. And the Family Program for parents and kids of 7+ years (30 Dec at 15:00-16:00) covers the topic “Do you dig?” and explains children how archaeologists discover information through excavations.

The National Gallery is running a “Christmas Family Art Holiday” event from Thurs 27th until Sat 29th. You can find out more here www.nationalgallery.ie/html/programevents2.html#1 In addition there are gallery tours on Sunday and special tours covering the current exhibition of Polish Art (Symbolism to Modern Art) (Sun 15:00) with a Polish language tour on Sunday at 16:00.
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I came across an interesting art exhibition and I just have to tell you about it:
Cornucopia, the Vegetarian Restaurant in 19 Wicklow Street (www.cornucopia.ie), is showing a unique art exhibition by artists, non-artists, customers, staff and passers-by at the moment and you still have a chance to catch it. I am quoting the official description:
“In September Cornucopia put a call out to artists, aspiring artists and anyone who’s ever wanted to see their work hanging in a public space. Their mission was to submit a piece of art on a square piece of box canvas. The artists were allowed to express themselves in any way they chose from paint to collage to photography to sculpture to stuck-on glass baubels, as long as it was presented on a square, chunky canvas. The submissions were to be part of a unique exhibition to take place from 3rd of Dec to the 1st of Feb.
The response was staggering. Hundreds of canvases came flooding in from all over Ireland – and beyond. All the artwork is for sale and with prices ranging from €8 to €500 (as fixed by the artists themselves) ANYONE can take home a memento of this very special display.
So check out this very exciting and unique exhibition yourself (and enjoy some yummy grub while you’re at it), as the walls of Cornucopia Restaurant spend two months teeming with hundreds of squares of colour, texture and images created by people just like us, for people just like us!”
I will definitely have a look at it over the next few days while I am doing some sales shopping in the city centre.
Opening times: Mon-Fr 08:30-21:00, Sat 08:30-20:00, Sun 12:00-19:00
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Now to New Year’s Eve:

Bars and pubs owned by Capitalbars (Howl at the Moon, Zanzibar, Cafe en Seine, Break for the Border, Dandelion) are charging expensive admission between 10 and 20 Euro on New Years Eve and it wouldn’t surprise me if the other Capitalbars-owned establishments (The George, The Dragon) had similar charges. Since they don’t offer any thing else then during the rest of the year (apart from the highest drink prices in Dublin anyway!), I will definitely not be seen there on New Year’s Eve. Even Fitzsimons in Temple Bar, which is normally free and packed with tourists, wants EUR 15, so watch out for different admission conditions than usually.

A shining light in the dark is one of the Thomas Read Bars:
Pravda, in Lower Liffey Street, has a free New Year’s Eve party from 21:00-02:30 with DJ Derek F.E.A.R.
Check some of the others as well (Thomas Read in Parliament Street and at Smithfield Plaza, The Harbourmaster, Ron Blacks) there are some indications that they don’t charge on the night either. Show your appreciation for this fair approach by visiting the free pubs.
I would expect as well that the Porterhouse Pubs don’t charge either, but I have no confirmation for that, so maybe check before you go, if you prefer a ZERO admission charge.

A regular and recently quite popular New Year’s Eve event is the Bell Ringing at Christ Church at midnight:
“The Christ Church Bells ring in the New Year and mark another Year for Dublin City. The event has become increasingly popular, drawing large crowds so arrive early to claim a good spot outside and wrap up warm as places are difficult to get inside the cathedral and a near-impossible privilege to be in the bell tower!”
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Permanent Free Event:
After introducing a number of permanent free events in previous weeks (Temple Bar Market, Government Buildings, National Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Aras an Uachtarian), this week I would like to “present” the National Library (www.nli.ie) to you. ;-)
Looking at old books? ..you might wonder. Well, if you think that the National Library is just a “container” of old books, then you should definitely go there for a visit. The National Library has three buildings, the main building is the National Library itself in Kildare Street next to Leinster House (left hand side), the second building is in 2/3 Kildare Street and the third building is the home of the National Photographic Archive and is in Temple Bar on the Meeting House Square. In the three buildings different exhibitions and events are on offer and admission is free.
“Strangers to Citizens: the Irish in Europe, 1600-1800” is the current exhibition in 2/3 Kildare Street. It only opened on the 12th of Dec and will run until the end of 2008. It tells the story of the Irish that emigrated to continental European countries after 1600 and how they formed community and eventually fully integrated into their host countries. Guided tours of the exhibition will take place on Mondays at 14:30.
The exhibition “Yeats: The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats” is taking place in the main building next to Leinster House. And in the Photographic Archive in Temple Bar you can see “In Search of Ireland, 1913” an interesting exhibition which contains the first ever colour pictures taken in Ireland.
In addition to the exhibitions there are events and educational programs for all age groups and for families.
The website is well structured and provides all information about the events and exhibitions and the opening hours. In addition you can see some Online Tours of the Library.
If you are interested in finding out more about your ancestors, the NLI is a big help as well: A “Genealogy Advisory Service” offers free advise to visitors to the National Library.

In the context of Family History Research I came across a free service that I want to mention here as well: The National Archives is offering a service that is streets ahead of its international counterparts. From this month, much of the 1911 census has been online and can easily be accessed for free! Try it, it will send you on a fantastic detective trail: www.census.nationalarchives.ie
A fascinating resource of information! One amazing fact that I found there is that in 1911 there were 330 trams in Dublin that connected the suburbs to the City Centre over 60 miles of tram tracks!!!! …and then they ripped all out to make room for cars! Incredible!
When you have a look at the website, you should look at “What was Dublin like in 1911?” and especially at the picture gallery for the different topics. I have spent ages looking at the pictures from 1900-1911. So interesting!
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The Grove Reunion Party was this evening (Thursday) and I hope many of you did go. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it myself (maybe next time), but I did get quite a number of mails and SMS last week for the ticket competition. In the end it had to come to a draw to determine the winner of the pair of tickets and I am pleased to announce that Orla McHenry was the lucky winner. Congratulations! :-) For all of you who weren’t as fortunate as Orla, I can promise more ticket competitions in the coming week. Keep entering and you will hopefully win next time.

Have a nice weekend and have a brilliant start of the new year!

HAPPY 2008!!!!

–Joerg

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Disclaimer: This Event Guide (the “Dublin Event Guide”) with a difference is sent to friends, colleagues and whoever else is interested to let you know about (mostly free) events in the Greater Dublin Area! Ticketed events usually make enough money to do their own advertisement, they don’t need extra help.
I started this because some friends asked me to share my weekend plans with them as I went to all types of festivals and searched for more. ;-) If you don’t want to receive this mail, just let me know. If you have feedback, good or bad, PLEASE tell me. If you want to be added to the mailing list or know somebody who would like to receive this guide, just send a mail to dublineventguide@gmail.com.
BTW: I have no affiliation with any of the organisers and don’t get any “reward” from them for advertising their events.
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