Most popular landmarks and natural wonders in Dublin
#1 The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Dublin, Ireland. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often viewed as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history. Central to the dispute was the workers' right to unionise.
#2 Ardgillan Castle is a country house near Balbriggan, County Fingal, Ireland. It is set in the 200-acre (0.81 km2) Ardgillan Demesne (Irish: Ard Giolláin), a public park in the jurisdiction of Fingal County Council.
The National Museum of Ireland – Natural History (Irish: Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann – Stair an Dúlra), sometimes called the Dead Zoo, a branch of the National Museum of Ireland, is housed on Merrion Street in Dublin, Ireland. The museum was built in 1856 for parts of the collection of the Royal Dublin Society and the building and collection were later passed to the State. The Natural History Collection comprised sub-collections for zoology, geology and botany; the geological collections have largely been held in storage from the 1960s, and the botanical collection was moved to National Botanic Gardens in 1970. However, the museum's zoological collection, and its building, have changed little since Victorian times, and it is sometimes described as a "museum of a museum" or a "stately home of death". Admission has been free of charge for decades, and attendance grew from 106,000 in 2007 to over 336,000 in 2017, and 388,000 in 2019, despite chronic staff shortages, and two of its four floors being closed since 2007. After temporary closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum closed in November 2020 for an indefinite period for major renovations, with the collections being moved over a period of around ten months, as detailed on an official museum Twitter channel. The ground floor reopened in August 2022 but will close when the main renovations commence. The work featured in a television documentary The Dead Zoo in 2022.
#4 Aideen's Grave is a collapsed megalithic dolmen (or cromlech) located in the grounds of Howth Castle in County Dublin, Ireland.
The Parnell Monument is a 19-metre-tall (62 ft) monument to Irish nationalist politician Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–1891), located at the northern end of O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland. Designed by Irish-American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (statue) and American architect Henry Bacon (obelisk), the monument took more than a decade to complete, and was the last public monument Saint-Gaudens saw to completion before his death. It consists of a bronze statue of Parnell set against a large granite obelisk, whose south-facing side bears a gilt inscription of one of his quotations as well as a harp. It was unveiled on 1 October 1911, twenty years after Parnell's death. According to the O'Connell Street Monument Report, the monument "now stands in answer to the O'Connell Statue at the south end and terminates the parade of nationalist statues on the primary thoroughfare of the capital." The monument is within the O'Connell Street Architectural Conservation Area.
#6 Kenure House (Irish: Ceann Iubhair – headland of the yew tree) was a large Georgian house and estate in Rush, County Dublin, Ireland. The main house was constructed between 1703 and 1713 by the Duke of Ormond on the grounds of an earlier house but was destroyed by fire and rebuilt around 1827. A later portico and further additions were added in 1842 to a design by George Papworth. The main house was demolished by Dublin County Council in 1978 and the granite portico is the only portion of the main house which still stands as of 2026.
#7 Santry Court was a Georgian house and demesne in Santry, north County Dublin built between 1703 and 1709 on the site of an earlier medieval residence.
The Book of Kells (Latin: Codex Cenannensis; Irish: Leabhar Cheanannais; Library of Trinity College Dublin, MS A. I. [58], sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illustrated manuscript and Celtic Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created in a Columban monastery in Ireland or Scotland, and may have had contributions from various Columban institutions across Ireland and Scotland. It is believed to have been created c. 800 AD. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is regarded as a masterwork of Western calligraphy and the pinnacle of Insular illumination. The manuscript is named after Abbey of Kells, County Meath, which was its home for centuries. The illustrations and ornamentation of the Book of Kells surpass those of other Insular Gospel books in extravagance and complexity. The decoration combines traditional Christian iconography with the ornate swirling motifs typical of Insular art. Figures of humans, animals and mythical beasts, together with Celtic knots and interlacing patterns in vibrant colours, enliven the manuscript's pages. Many of these minor decorative elements are imbued with Christian symbolism, and so further emphasise the themes of the major illustrations. The manuscript today comprises 340 leaves or folios; the recto and verso of each leaf total 680 pages. Since 1953, it has been bound in four volumes, 330 by 250 mm (13 by 9.8 in). The leaves are high-quality calf vellum; the unprecedentedly elaborate ornamentation that covers them includes ten full-page illustrations and text pages that are vibrant with decorated initials and interlinear miniatures, marking the furthest extension of the anti-classical and energetic qualities of Insular art. The Insular majuscule script of the text appears to be the work of at least three different scribes. The lettering is in iron gall ink, and the colours used were derived from a wide range of substances, some of which were imported from distant lands. The manuscript is on display to visitors in Trinity College Library, Dublin, and shows two pages at any one time, rotated every 6-8 weeks. A digitised version of the entire manuscript may also be seen online.
The International Brigades (Spanish: Brigadas Internacionales) were volunteer soldiers organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Brigades existed for two years, from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were some 32,000 Brigaders, yet at no single moment were there more than 18,000 actually deployed. Beyond the Spanish Civil War, "International Brigades" is also sometimes used interchangeably with the term foreign legion in reference to military units comprising foreigners who volunteer to fight in the military of another state, often in times of war. The headquarters of the brigade was located at the Gran Hotel, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha. They participated in the battles of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite, Teruel, Aragon, and the Ebro. Most of these ended in defeat. For the last year of its existence, the International Brigades were integrated into the Spanish Republican Army as part of the Spanish Foreign Legion. The organisation was dissolved on 23 September 1938 by Spanish Prime Minister Juan Negrín in a vain attempt to get more support from the liberal democracies on the Non-Intervention Committee. The International Brigades were strongly supported by the Comintern and represented the Soviet Union's commitment to assisting the Spanish Republic (with arms, logistics, military advisers and the NKVD), just as Portugal, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany were assisting the opposing Nationalist insurgency. The largest number of volunteers came from France (where the French Communist Party had many members) and communist exiles from Italy and Germany. Many Jews were part of the brigades, being particularly numerous within the volunteers coming from the United States, Poland, Romania, France, Great Britain, and Argentina. Republican volunteers who were opposed to Stalinism did not join the Brigades. Instead, they enlisted in the separate Popular Front, the POUM (formed from Trotskyist, Bukharinist, and other anti-Stalinist groups, which did not separate Spaniards and foreign volunteers), or anarcho-syndicalist groups such as the Durruti Column, the IWA, and the CNT.
#10 The Irish Museum of Modern Art (Irish: Áras Nua-Ealaíne na hÉireann), also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. It is located in Kilmainham, Dublin.