Satu Irlannissa

  Henrietta house When I travel, I find it fascinating to see what types of houses people live in and used to live in. Dublin boasts one of the best examples of Georgian houses and squares. (Georgian era in 1714-1837). If you want to find out about how people lived in Dublin, head for 14 Henrietta House on Henrietta Street. Henrietta House shows the 270 years of housing history in Dublin. Dublin was the second city of the British empire and a seat of learning and commerce in the 1700s. Henrietta Street was developed for wealthy and influencial families by a banker and politician. 14 Henrietta House was owned by one family at first, and the house was supposed to display their wealth.  The house has four storeys over the basement. The first floor was for entertainment.  Kitchens were in the basement. Servants’ quarters and nurseries were placed on the top. Assemblies, dinners and parties were held on regular basis. The role of the wife was important in the house. She practi...

GPO - General Post Office, HQ of the Easter Rising Easter Rising An important event in the Irish history is the Easter Rising in 1916. The event comes up in museums in one form or another. The reason for the rising was the desire to gain independence. The rising was supposed to be quite a big event, but the British got wind of the event and the actual rising which was supposed to take place on Sunday was cancelled. However, a smaller group of rebellions in Dublin decided to go ahead on Easter Monday when the British were enjoying Easter sports. The main places for the rising in Dublin were e.g. the headquarters in the main post office, and St Stephen’s Green Park. A curious detail about the park was that the rebels held a ceasefire every day so that the park keeper could go and feed the ducks in the park. The leader of the rising was a schoolmaster and an Irish language activist Patrick Pearce. Other names included e.g. James Connell and Joseph Mary Plunkett. Note the interesting name:...

  Border between Ireland and Northern Ireland Today started with crossing the border to Northern Ireland. What border? You might ask. As you can see there is no actual border even though you travel from an EU country to a non-EU country. This is what a soft border means. No passport control and no visible border. The shamrock Some historical facts that our tour guide was feeding to us on the coach: - Celts came to Ireland in 500 BC and formed little kingdoms - An example of a Celtic law would be a divorce: A woman could divorce her husband just by saying ’I divorce you’ three times - A group of Celts went to England and took slaves among whom there was a young man called Patrick  -Patrick later returned to convert the Irish into Christianity - St Patrick used the shamrock to explain the concept of trinity - Shamrock already played a part in the Celtic culture - 1801 the Act of Union —> Ireland started to be ruled from Westminster - The potato famine (1945-1952) made the Iri...

The most famous tourist attraction in Dublin must be the Book of Kells. You have to book a time slot in advance online.  So what is the Book of Kells The Book of Kells is a collection of decorative very old scriptures. They are kept in safe keeping in Trinity College. Trinity College is one of the most prestigious universities in the British Isles.  We don’t know exactly when the first Christians came to Ireland but by the 5th century the Pope sent the first bishop there. Monasteries were founded at first in Iona in Scotland and then in Durrow in Ireland. Christianity also introduced many new practices including writing. The Book of Kells was written in ca 800 AD.  The Book contains some scriptures of the Bible beautifully scribed on animal skin using various pigments. The letters are decorative and the book includes detailed pictures. Possible writing mistakes were covered with eg other pictures. Someone has said the book is like an intricate colouring book.  When y...