For Open House Dublin weekend there will be hourly tours of the City Assembly House on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 October. We're delighted to welcome back musician Yonit Kosovske to the Knight of Glin Exhibition Room! Kosovske will perform 'Book 1 of J.S. Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier' in a series of afternoon harpsichord concerts over the weekend.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to see our current exhibition Vain Transitory Splendours - The Irish Country House and the art of John Nankivell.

Schedule of events
Friday 12 October
The exhibition will be open to the public from 10am to 5pm, and self-guided tour materials will be available.

Saturday 13 October
OHD tours of the City Assembly House: 11am / 12pm / 1pm / 2pm / 3pm / 4pm
Harpsichord performances by Yonit Kosovske: 12.30pm / 1.30pm / 2.30pm / 3.30pm

Sunday 14 October
OHD tours of the City Assembly House: 12pm / 1pm / 2pm / 3pm / 4pm
Harpsichord performances by Yonit Kosovske: 12.30pm / 1.30pm / 2.30pm / 3.30pm

Yonit Kosovske performs solo and collaborative repertoire from the Renaissance period to New Music, spanning large and small-scale genres, sacred and secular, vocal and instrumental. She has a particular passion for 17th-century solo and chamber repertoire on period instruments, alongside 18th-century Lieder and Contemporary Art Song. In 2011 she was appointed Lecturer in Music on the MA Classical String Performance Programme at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.

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An event celebrating the life and work of Nicola Gordon Bowe will take place at the National Gallery of Ireland on the evening of Saturday 20 October 2018.

A number of Nikki’s friends and colleagues will share memories and reflect on her achievements as an art historian, her inspiring teaching and her always-stimulating companionship.

The event will take place in the Shaw Room (Merrion Square entrance) at 18.00 with talks from 18.30. The talks will be followed with drinks in the National Gallery’s Courtyard space.

Nikki’s family and I very much hope that you can come.

Please RSVP to David Crowley crowleyd@staff.ncad.ie. Our host, the National Gallery of Ireland, needs to have the names of people attending in advance.

Please feel free to share this invitation with anyone who enjoyed Nikki’s work or company.

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The Irish Georgian Society cordially invites you to the inaugural

Mary Bryan Memorial Lecture

Irish Utopias

to be delivered by

Livia Hurley

on Thursday 1 November 2018 

at 6pm 

in City Assembly House, 58 South William Street, Dublin 2
 
On this special occasion Dr. Edward McParland will welcome attendees including members of Mary’s family. The lecture will be followed by a reception.
 
RSVP roisin.lambe@igs.ie before 26 October

For the Inaugural Annual Mary Bryan Lecture, Livia Hurley will give a talk on Irish utopias, which situates nineteenth-century settlements within the Irish Utopian Studies canon and questions whether these aspirational spaces unwittingly materialised as dystopian in their tightly controlled planning and in their function as showcasing for philanthropic industrialists. Livia Hurley is Design Fellow in Architecture, School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy, UCD.  

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A one day conference looking at fire safety in the context of regulations and the challenges and solutions in applying these to historic buildings.

Book tickets online (€60)

Speakers:

• Michael O'Boyle (conservation architect and trustee of Irish Landmark) will set the context- the necessary closure of Irish Landmark's property at No.25 Eustace Street in Dublin to facilitate upgrading to ensure the building meets new fire safety regulations:  and the challenges faced in that process.
• Stephen Emery, Oxford University Fire Officer, will discuss the challenges of dealing with fire safety regulations in historic buildings and how to negotiate this challenge
• Gráinne Shaffrey, architect, will discuss her report to Dublin City Council and the re-use of Georgian Houses (in relation to fire safety)
• Úna Ní Mhéaráin, conservation architect, will talk about the challenges that were faced when dealing with fire regulations in the conservation of City Assembly House
• Dawson Stelfox, conservation architect with Consarc in Belfast, will discuss fire prevention measures for historic buildings   
• Chris McGregor, a Senior Conservation Project Manager with Historic Environment Scotland, will talk about the two fires at Glasgow School of Art – and restoration after fire.
• Richard Calder OPW, Head of Fire & Security,  will discuss how fire safety issues were dealt with in state buildings referencing his experience with National Gallery of Ireland, Royal Hospital Kilmainham, and Marsh’s Library

The Conference is supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

The Conference has been organised in partnership with the Office of Public Works, Dublin City Council and the Irish Georgian Society.

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The City Assembly House is closed for a private event on Wednesday 3^rd and Thursday 4^th October. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

IGS office hours are as normal, 9.30am to 5.00pm.

You can browse our online bookshop at shop.igs.ie

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The IGS has called for a public acquisition of the ‘Armada Table’ which the Knight of Glin and James Peil describe as “one of the most important and earliest pieces of ‘Irish’ furniture” (Irish Furniture, 2007). In a letter to Josepha Madigan TD, Minister for Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Society wrote the following:

The sale of the ‘Armada Table’ is most regrettable given its centuries-long ownership by the O’Brien family and its association with the great castles of Co. Clare they once resided' in: Lemenagh, Dromoland and Bunratty. Their custodianship of the table has ensured the survival of an item of furniture of national importance to our decorative arts heritage, and which represents one of the very few examples of woodcarving from the Early Modern Period in Ireland. Furthermore, their loan of the table to Bunratty Castle since the 1960s has presented an opportunity for countless visitors to see it within an old O’Brien home.

The significance of the table to Ireland’s cultural patrimony and to that of Co. Clare provides every reason for public intervention to ensure it not only remains in the country but continues to be on public view. An opportunity to finance such a public acquisition could be presented through the provisions of the Heritage Fund Act 2001 and if not, other public-private solutions should be sought as a matter of urgency with the auction scheduled for mid-October.

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