header image: a detail from the 1848 image of Dublin published with the London Illustrated News, with later hand coloring. Picture from a private collection.
Walking Tours & Art History Tours in 2023
Our final public tour of 2023 – a workshop of symbolism in old master paintings, at the National Gallery of Ireland- is now unfortunately sold out. It is still possible to book private tours but only by using the Green, onscreen button please. Our next available public tours will resume in mid- to late March of next year (2024) Please check the website then. Or better, if you don’t want to miss these unique tours (they often sell-out) then look further down the page to see how to subscribe to the free email newsletters.
Our big focus at the moment however, and right through this winter, and aperfect Christmas gift, are our
annual online Art History talks.
This is the fourth year of our popular online Art History talks. they are delivered weekly each Tuesday, across 8 weeks in January and February, They are available both live and/or recorded (Everyone automatically gets both links) .
The focus this year is the spectacular Renaissance Art of Florence, with lavish illuminations and up-close details, as well as thoughtful analysis and insight into the art of (inter alia) Giotto, Masaccio, Donatello, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo et al.
It is also possible, when purchasing, to make a gift of the talks and for any art-lover these make a really beautiful Christmas present.
To see all the information on these beautifully illuminated, fun, insightful yet accessible weekly art talks, please go here.
Other Christmas Gifts
For people looking for other Christmas Gifts, there one other, perhaps even two other, great options.
Dublin Decoded Gift Cards
Our gift cards are far more attractive and usable these days. They even look great! They can be used or redeemed against any Dublin Decoded walk, talk or event, public or private. To purchase a gift card, for any amount, hit the Green onscreen button, select the Gift Card option, then name your recipient and simply chose your amount. Our gift cards do not carry a time limit. (We don’t approve of people who do this!) So long as we are giving talks or leading tours, we will always honour credit bought from Dublin Decoded tours.
Buy a friend or family member a Private walking tour
Private walking tours (exclusively for you and /or your own private / family / college or corporate group) are available anytime, year-round, on flexible (available) dates. You can check all the private tour options, prices, and even our availability without any obligation by hitting the Green “Book Now” button, then select Private tours, then select your date and numbers on the “Private Tour” option. (Add your group size, to see price, without any obligation) Buying a Private tour is not the same as buying a gift card, it is a tour that’s already booked, locked and loaded! But if you know your date and numbers it’s a great gift as it means you’ve already done all the work yourself and it can feel even more “real”. (We will be flexible on requested changed dates, subject to sufficient notice please)
Arran Henderson | Dublin Decoded Talks and Tours.
images above: 1- statues under the Loggia in Piazza Signoria, with the Palazzo Vecchio and a corner of the Ufifzi) visible behind. 2- Arran in front of Baptistery S. Giovanni Florence.
image below: St Marys Abbey and Saint Saviour’s Priory by river Liffey in medieval Dublin. Strictly copyright, & courtesy of the artists, Mr. Stephen Conlin; guests on a “Medieval Walls” walk and on various other tours, and including our Portobello tour and our private Art Tours!
Recently concluded tours
Many of these tours sold out, but they will be coming again soon in 2024….
No dates are currently scheduled however: so please subscribe to the free monthly newsletter, to avoid missing them (when they do happen again)
Wednesday 13th December 11AM: an unique private Art tour of the National Gallery of Ireland:
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, 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, Andrea Mantegna and Caravaggio. If you love old artworks, and would like to learn how to think more like an art historian thinks, you will find this tour a revelation!
This tour takes place on the morning Wednesday 13th December, meeting just inside the Merrion Square foyer/ reception area, at 11AM, giving guests just 5 minutes to check their coats into the free, self service lockers directly adjacent (just ask NGI staff for lockers) Our tour then commences 11.10AM sharp. Tour limited to 15 people or less.
Thomas St, James St & the Guinness Quarter
Starting outside one of our favourite places in Dublin- the ancient, much storied Saint Audoen’s Church- we will take a stroll along Thomas Street, then James Street, savouring along the way dozens of interesting buildings, fragments of history and architectural details.
These include an old library, distilleries, churches, department stores, a medieval hospital, and the former home of an 18th century, Quaker banking magnate.
Later, on our return leg, we will then leave the Thomas Street – James Street line and wander instead through the historic Guinness Quarter, Dublin’s largest concentration of 18th and 19th century industrial heritage Towards the end of our tour, we will also glimpse several historic market buildings, and trace the outline of a once mighty, now vanished medieval monastery. This tour was previously scheduled for Wed 25 October and was rescheduled to Wed 15 November.
Irish Painting 1650- 1850: & its European influences.
Our tour includes tantalizing glimpses of the soon-to-be-vanquished late 17th century Irish Catholic aristocracy, painted in the years just before the Battle of the Boyne. We will look at the careers and work of sometimes neglected artists like Garret Morphy, Francis Bindon, Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Nathaniel Hone and James Barry.
We’ll also view and “decode” two amazing 18th century portraits, one a highly-charged political allegory, featuring the great Dean Swift; the other a cleverly detailed pictorial tribute to legendary Georgian architect James Gandon.
After looking at how 18th and 19th century Irish artists also dealt with genres including History Painting, Landscape and Portraits, we’ll turn our attention in the last 40 minutes to learn more about how ideas and examples from England, France and Italy all influenced Irish art in this era, including two remarkable portraits of very famous women with unexpected and fascinating Irish connections.
Towards the very end of our tour, we’ll look at the influence of the Grand Tour tradition in particular, by viewing and discussing three or four key “vedute” works brought back here to Ireland by Grand Tourists, purchased from 18C Italian artists like Panini in Rome and Canaletto in Venice.
Thursday 23 November (11.15AM)
Exploring Dublin’s ancient churches and monasteries; and the Chapter House of Saint Mary’s Abbey.
The only substantial part of the legendary Abbey of Saint Mary’s to have survived into the present day is the Chapter House. This miraculous survivor however, was closed for much of the last 8 years, as important conservation work was carried out. This work is now complete. The OPW accordingly are now opening Mary’s Abbey Chapter House for a few limited days each month. They have kindly agreed to open the building up especially to our Dublin Decoded group one last time this year, on Thursday 23 November when they will provide us with a tour and brief talk on the Abbey. For conservation reasons, there’s a strict limit to the numbers (14 max) on each OPW tour. (This will also be the limit of Dublin Decoded guests on each of our three tour dates). Our tour seeks to place the ancient abbey of Saint Mary’s into the wider context of churches and religious houses around central Dublin during the medieval era, prior to the Reformation, before we enter the Chapter House itself
On each tour, we will meet outside the Gutter Book store, and will spend an hour exploring the central medieval core of old Dublin, discussing some of the many now-vanished, ancient parish churches (like Saint Olaves; Saint Michael’s or Saint John the Evangelist) that once dotted the area, and seeking to learn more about them. In tandem we we will discuss former monasteries in the same area, like the Augustinian Priory of the Holy Trinity, the Dominican Priory of Saint Saviour, and, eventually of course, once we cross the river Liffey, the once mighty Cistercian abbey of Saint Mary’s Abbey. Once there, for the last 35 minutes or so of our tour, we will put ourselves in the hands of the OPW and their excellent, highly capable guide, as we spend 30-40 minutes inside the wonderful Chapter House, a miraculous survivor, from a vanished, medieval age.
Our tour concludes after the OPW Tour, outside the Chapter House, on Mary’s Abbey St (just off Capel St) Strict maximum of 14 people on each tour, so please note, we will not be using our usual audio equipment on these 3 tours. Tour length overall is 1 hour 45 minutes approx, with the final 35 minutes of this spent inside the Chapter House, with the OPW.
N.B. The OPW have asked me to emphasize that, unfortunately, there is no wheelchair or disabled access available at present.
4PM: Wednesday 23 August: an afternoon and early evening city walk to Saint Saviour’s Dominican Church and Priory, with a short tour of the Priory and Cloister, followed by vespers in the Church from 6- 6.15pm.
Again we met outside Gutter Bookshop, again the focus was on monasteries. But this time we will venture slightly further north and east on our route, and we will end our tour, not at Saint Mary’s Chapter House, but at a living breathing monastic community, at the Dominican Priory of the Saint Saviours, located between Dominican Street and Dorset Street. On the way to this present day priory, we will consider many aspects of the historic city-scape, including old churches and monasteries, and the redevelopment during the 1600s of the former, extensive Saint Marys’ lands by 17th century developer Humphrey Jervis, and his successors. As part of that discussion we will look at sites like Capel Street, Saint Mary’s church, Wolfe Tone Square, a small part of Henry Street, Ryder’s Row and Dominick Street.
Once at the priory we will be treated to a tour of some of the rooms and corridors and the beautiful, three-sided cloister, by a resident, the Dominican friar and historian, Father Conor McDonough O.P. who will also speak to us on the almost 800-year history of the Dominicans in Ireland. We will finish our tour by filing into in the large church of Saint Saviours at 6PM, to listen to the whole community of friars singing Vespers . Vespers concludes at 6.15, when we shall conclude our tour just outside the church. Please note this is not a loop walk, meaning we do not return to our start point. We will be using audio equipment for this tour. Only one date currently planned: Wed 23rd August, starting 4PM, ending approximately 6.15PM.
Tickets €23.50 plus booking fee. Your ticket price includes audio equipment for better sound on the tour, and also includes a small donation to the Dominican community of around €150, which I will make on all our behalf. (Guests are of course, entirely welcome to make additional, personal donations) This tour is past: Remaining tickets to any future dates of this tour may possiibly be found here.
Saturday 5th August 11.30AM – 1.30PM: a 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. Tickets here.
Tuesday 20 JUNE, 8PM: a free, evening-time slide Talk. the history and architecture of Rathmines.
Doors 7.45 PM (19.45) Talk 8PM sharp.
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. No tickets or booking required. This is a FREE talk and Seats are first come/ first served.
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).
Saint Stephen’s Green and the Secret Interiors of Newman house: (No current dates scheduled)
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: (No current dates scheduled)
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.
Drama and Politics in Dublin’s Medieval Core. (No current dates scheduled)
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.
Saturday 5th August 11.30AM – 1.30PM: a 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. Tickets here.
Monday 23 October:
a new tour: O’Connell Street, architectural glories, hidden details, and its past, present and potential futures.
Starting 11.30AM sharp. Meet 11.15AM
Ignore everything negative may have heard about O’Connell Street. Look up, lift your eyes and let me guide you through the history, architecture and design history of this remarkable sequence of buildings, history and monuments.
We will discover a world of beautiful, classically-inspired architecture, of miniature temples, adorning the tops of historic bank buildings, of Hamman buildings, and of treasures like a Greek Revival cathedral, like old cinemas and dance-halls, and various inscrutable Egyptian sphinx on the stone-carved façade of an Art Deco hotel. We will also consider how the street came to be; how it evolved, was destroyed, and was gloriously rebuilt again. We’ll also consider the possibilities for renewal and rebirth, and the current situation with the Carton cinema site and Cleary’s Department store.
Saturday 16 September 11.15AM: Merchants and Magnates.
an exploration of Dublin’s beautiful South Retail Core, everything just west of Grafton Street, including sections of Great South George’s Street, Stephen’s Street, Sussex Street, and Drury, Clarendon and South William Streets. This tour features an amazing mix of everything from 1600s planning, via fabulous 18th century Georgian buildings, Art Deco and Art Nouveau shopfronts, mighty Victorian market-buildings, to a hidden, modernist eco-hotel!
Set in the prettiest, most attractive part of Dublin, this is the perfect tour for architecture and design- history lovers and for the culturally-curious.
Tour starts 11.15 sharp on Saturday 16th September. Please ensure you turn up at least 5 minutes before the start time. We will use, and will supply free of charge, audio equipment in this tour. Book early to avoid disappointment. Tickets €18.75 p/p plus booking fee. Status: SOLD OUT
Wednesday 20th September. 11.15AM,
A tour all around Saint Stephens Green, including a rare private visit inside Ely House
A Dublin Decoded special tour, the first hour of our tour will bring us on a complete walking tour circuit around all four sides of Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin’s first and greatest residential square, laid out all the way back in the 1600s.
All around the square, we will look at 400 years of spectacular architecture, change and evolution, talking about everything from schools, hospitals, former, now-forgotten museums, to collages, churches, chapels and huge aristocratic 18th century mansions.
The second part of our tour is very special, and brings us into Ely House; just off Saint Stephen’s Green,
for a privileged, private tour of the interior architecture of one of the capital’s grandest private aristocratic townhouses, formerly the home of the Loftus family of Rathfarnham, earls of Ely, and the descendants of provost Adam Loftus (who founded Trinity Village in 1592) The house today does not boast much 18th century furniture or artworks, but does possess many interesting architectural and decorative features, including what’s probably the most extraordinary, ornately extravagant Georgian staircase in Dublin, sculpted with large depictions of the Twelve Labours of Hercules! This may be a one-off visit. It is a rare treat to be able to offer this private visit to our members and guests.
Between this magnificent, privately-owned house, and our earlier tour around “the Green” we shall attempt a deeper understanding of this remarkable quarter of Dublin. Status: this tour was SOLD OUT
Wednesday 18th October.
the Wide Streets Commissioners around College Green, Westmoreland and d’Olier Streets; plus Dublin’s old Parliament buildings & the Irish House of Lords.
Tour Starting 10.30AM sharp. Meeting at 10.15AM
This walk discusses the evolution of Dublin from the mid-1600s and the 1700s, including the achievements of the famed (and feared) Wide Streets Commissioners (the WSC).
Our tour savours details and rarely-noticed survivors of the WSC era on Dame St, College Green, and on nearby Westmoreland, College and D’Olier Streets. It then climaxes with a tour within the stunning old Irish Parliament complex , including Pearce’s shimmering, miniature masterpiece at the heart of the building, the former Irish House of Lords, with its early 1700s tapestries and its stunning, classically-inspired architecture.
Tour Starting 10.30AM sharp. Meeting at 10.15AM. (Meet point on your ticket confirmation email) Tickets here.
Ranelagh 1: Dartmouth Square to Chelmsford Road
One of our newest tours, Ranelagh: Dartmouth Square to Chelmsford Road explores the northern and eastern sections of this most fascinating of Dublin’s districts, full of gracious Victorian redbrick terraces, and Dublin’s only Georgian Square that lies outside the canals, and a fascinating garden park, concealing many layers of hidden history.
We 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 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 former hospital, 1880s children’s charity home and the remarkable Victorian old men’s former “Northbrook Asylum”. We then pass under the railway bridge of the old Sout Eastern Line, and across Ranelagh Road, to lovely Mount Pleasant Square, a beautiful Georgian square. We will learn about its connections to history, literature and revolution, while taking time to enjoy the mellow old bricks, wrought iron work, and Georgian fanlights. Nearby, just around the corner of the square, by contrast, stands the modern, award-winning contemporary architecture of Ranelagh Multi-Denominational Primary School, by O’Donnell and Tuomey. Towards the end of our tour we’ll pause to enjoy the grassy slopes, paths and trees of Ranelagh Garden Park, discussing its remarkable, extraordinarily varied history, including its time as a Bishop’s residence, as an 18th century pleasure garden, and almost 200-years as the house and grounds of a Carmelite Convent. We conclude the walk on Chelsmford Road.
