Public Walking Tours and Art Tours: May and June 2023.
Please see our May and June 2023 schedule of history, art and architecture public walking tours below. Dates for Public Tours in July and August ’23 will be scheduled, and released, only around mid-June. Remember: Private walking tours (exclusively for you and /or your own private / family / college or corporate group) available anytime, year-round, on flexible (available) dates, simply by hitting the Green “Book Now” button, then selecting your date on the “Private Tour” option. For public tours, on fixed dates, please see our schedule below.
One more note: if you are booking tickets for any event listed below, please note the booking calendar for each event will display all dates for that type of tour. So please be careful, to choose the right date (the date you want) from available date options on the booking calendar? No refunds possible after 48 hours prior to a tour. Thank you.
EVENTS
NEW Tour: Ranelagh (Part One) Dartmouth Square to Chelmsford Road
Wednesday 24 MAY / Sunday 28 MAY both Sold Out.
Tickets for New date now available, Wednesday 31 May, at 11.30AM.
We are delighted to announce our newest tour, Ranelagh: Dartmouth Square to Chelmsford Road, which explores the northern and eastern sections of this most fascinating of Dublin’s districts, full of gracious Victorian redbrick terraces, and, at this time of year, blooming with beautiful gardens as well.
Our walk meet on the “city side” of the Grand Canal, outside the Hilton Dublin Hotel, on Charleville Mall where you will be supplied with free sound equipment (included in the price of your ticket). Soon after we cross the Canal bridge and after a brief walk along Ranelagh Road, we all explore and discuss the architecture, social history (and epic planning battles) of areas like Dartmouth Square and Dartmouth Road.
Nearby Northbrook Road features too, with its own architectural Victorian delights and oddities. Ranelagh Road and village itself naturally features prominently as well, with wonderful Victorian and Edwardian buildings, siting cheek-by-jowl with award-winning contemporary architecture like Ranelagh Multi-Denominational Primary School, by O’Donnell and Tuomey.
Beautiful Mount Pleasant Square, on the far side of Ranelagh Road is walked and discussed too, along with other, half-hidden, late-Georgian and mid-Victorian terraces, before we pass through the nearby Ranelagh park – itself full of hidden history- to conclude on adjacent Chelmsford Road.
We will conclude on Chelsmford Road with a privileged visit inside the nearby art gallery of acclaimed painter Gerard Byrne, where we will discover his virtuoso charcoal drawings, often depicting street scenes and architecture, full of energy and character, and executed with considerable bravura.
Our visits mark the occasion of Byrne’s latest exhibition, Charcoalology, and are timed to coincide around National Drawing Day.
Artworks in Gerry Byrne’s exhibition feature several locations featured on our Ranelagh walking tour, as well as many other familiar and much loved Dublin locations.
Tours take place Saturday 20 May, Wednesday 24 May and Sunday 28 May. ALL SOLD OUT Saturday 20 May, and Sunday 28 May’s tours are both priced at €17.50 plus booking (roughly €19 in total) The tour Wednesday 31 May’s tour has a midweek-discount at just €12.50 plus booking (less than €14.50 in total)
Please take care to use the booking calendar to choose the correct date (the date that you want?)
Tickets for all Available dates available via this link
Tuesday 13 JUNE, 2PM: Merchants and Magnates:
an exploration of Dublin’s beautiful South Retail Core, everything just west of Grafton Street including Great South George’s Street, Stephen’s Street, Sussex Street, and Drury, Clarendon and South William Streets. Featuring everything from 1600s planning, fabulous 18th century Georgian buildings, Art Deco and Art Nouveau shopfronts, mighty Victorian market buildings, and a hidden, modernist eco-hotel! If you love architecture and design- history, you will absolutely love this tour. Tickets available here.
Tuesday 13 JUNE, 8PM the history and architecture of Rathmines.
a free, evening-time slide talk. Doors 7.45 PM (19.45) Talk 8PM sharp.
No tickets or booking required. This is a FREE talk and Seats are first come/ first served.
This is the last in our series of 4 live, in-person History Slide talks: These free, evening time slide-talks take place in Portobello, Dublin 8, in the Community Hall behind the (former) Church of Ireland of Saint Kevin’s, Bloomfield Road, Dublin 8. The speaker is Arran Henderson. In the tradition of all Dublin Decoded events, they will cover a mix of architecture and history and will be lavishly-illustrated. This final talk covers the history and rich architectural heritage of Rathmines.
These talks are held with the support of Portobello Tidy Towns and their kind Committee. Dublin Decoded also wish to acknowledge the sponsorship of Dublin City Council (DCC).
General tips on finding and enjoying Dublin Decoded tours and other events.
Dublin Decoded only host and schedule about 2- 5 events eaxh month. Sometimes even less. We also only schedule about 2-4 weeks in advance. So it is easy to miss on on tours and other events. To get early notification on Dublin’s best Art, Architecture and History talks, tours and events, we always recommend interested people join the online mailing list, for our free newsletter email. We typically only send about 8-10 emails per year, and only when we have real news and new events to share. Many of the events sell out quickly, and you will not want to miss them, so it makes sense to sign-up.
If you’d like to sign-up (to subscribe) to the newsletter, you may do so here.
Finally, don’t forget it’s also possible to book private tours on flexible dates for your own group, for your own special occasion. To do that, or even just to peruse tour options, see prices and available dates, just hit the green “Book Now” button on-screen, then select “Private Tours” from the menu there.
We look forward to perhaps seeing you on tour.
Arran Henderson | Dublin Decoded
images below: Urban Oasis, (Ranelagh Road) a recent charcoal drawing by Gerard Byrne. Lower images, further of guests on a “Medieval Walls” walk and on various other tours, and including our Portobello tour and our private Art Tours!
Coming again soon….
Saint Stephen’s Green and the Secret Interiors of Newman house:
a tour around all of Stephen’s Green and into the rarely seen secret 18th century interiors of Newman house.
The WSC, old Parliament and the Irish House of Lords: the evolution of Dublin from the mid-1600s and into the 1700s:
including the achievements of the famed (and feared) Wide Streets Commissioners (WSC) and works by legendary Georgian architects like Edward Lovett Pearce and James Gandon. Details, and rarely-noticed survivors of the WSC era on Andrew’s Street, Dame St, College Green, and nearby D’Olier Street, then the climax of our a tour is a private visit within the stunning old Irish Parliament complex, including James Gandon’s Rotunda, and Pearce’s shimmering, miniature masterpiece at the heart of the building, the former Irish House of Lords.
Walking Tour of Dublin’s Medieval Walls (2 hours)
explores the remaining fragments of the old city walls, gates and watchtowers, and the dramatic, often violent events they witnessed over their over-700-hundred year presence. A very special tour. A 2-hour loop around the old city of Dublin’s medieval walls, walking with our maps in hand, this is almost like a treasure hunt, as we use the maps to help identify the locations of the former gates and watch towers that once lined the medieval walls. We’ll also explore and discuss the layered, often violent history those walls witnessed through the Middle Ages, including war, invasion, fire, plaque and bloody rebellion. We’ll discuss Viking History, the Normans, vanished churches, priories, chapels and medieval guildhalls. A fantastic way to learn about the often-forgotten, yet fascinating realities of medieval Dublin and learn about the origins of our city.
Drama and Politics in Dublin’s Medieval Core
Everybody thinks about Dublin Literature as being Shaw, Wilde, Joyce, O’Casey. But what about writers who lived and worked in the old historic core, from Johnathan Swift and Lady Sydney Morgan, to James Clarence Mangan? And what of Irish Drama and the Irish stage in the centuries before the Abbey National Theatre? This superb walking tour explores theatre, literature, music and performance as well as themes as diverse as Bookselling and printing on Castle Street; drama and fatal politics at the Werburgh and Smock Alley Theatres; the old Music Hall and much, much more. Our route includes Smock Alley, Dublin Castle, Castle Street, Fishamble and Werburgh Street, Smock Alley and around. An eye-opening journey, around Dublin’s medieval core.
How to Read a Painting, convention, meaning and symbolism in Renaissance and European old master paintings.
The acclaimed “How to Read a Painting” workshop: our gentle, accessible, and highly enjoyable introduction to Art History. Learn about artistic conventions, the creation of meaning and the use of religious and mythological symbols and symbolism in Renaissance and European painting. As examples- to illustrate our learning points- we’ll view and discuss over a dozen paintings from the NGI’s wonderful collections, various stunning artworks by masters like Fra Angelico, Perugino, Titian and Andrea Mantegna.
Friday 31 March: 2PM: Irish Painting 1670- 1850: & its European influences.
An art tour of Irish Art, from before the Battle of the Boyne through the 18th and 19th centuries- with genres including History Painting, Irish Landscape and Portraits. Learn also how ideas from England, France and Italy influenced Irish art in this era, and towards the end of our tour, the influence of the Grand Tour tradition in particular, when we’ll view and discuss “vedute” works bought and brought back here to Ireland, by Grand Tourists, purchased from artists like Canaletto in Venice, and Panini in Rome.
