Cork Heritage Open Day

I just found out that this week has been Heritage Week in Cork, and one of the events today was Cork Heritage Open Day. Luckily we found out about it yesterday, so today we were able to take part in it!

Here is how the website explains Cork Heritage Open Day:

For one day only over 30 buildings open their doors free of charge for this special event. Members of the public are allowed a glimpse of some of Cork’s most fascinating buildings ranging from the Medieval to the Military, the Civic to the Commercial and the Educational to the Ecclesiastical.

This is very similar to an event I love in Toronto called Open Doors Toronto.

Today we started our tour at the Courthouse, which simply blew me away. I walk by it often, and had never guessed the magical grandeur of what was inside, nor the scary sad spaces set aside for those accused of crimes. It evoked such dissonant feelings for me.








Our next stop was the Masonic Lodge. Masons are a sort of secretive historical society, and the visit lived up to the mysterious strangeness surrounding their reputation. They talked a lot, but didn't really say much. One phrase they seemed to like to repeat was "We are not a secret society. We are a society with secrets." Hmm...ok then, guys.




After that we headed over to the Webworks, a commercial technology building that was built in the location where the old railway station used to be. It still has an old wall from that time, while the rest of the architecture is extremely modern and minimalist, with only small splashes of bright colours here and there. A large spiral staircase in the main lobby, for example, is a shade of green that reminds me of crayons:




Last, but definitely not least, we stopped at The National Sculpture Factory. This place was another wonderful surprise. The website describes it this way:

The National Sculpture Factory was set up in 1989 by four local artists as a response to a need from artists for a large scale well equipped studio space where they could work. The National Sculpture Factory is a national organization, dedicated to artists, which advances the creation and understanding of contemporary art. Specifically, it provides and promotes a supportive environment for the making of art, opportunities for commissioning new works, collaborations, residencies and other artistic interventions. Its objectives include supporting the individual vision of artists, fostering partnerships and creating international opportunities for artists, acting as a flexible catalyst for ideas and raising awareness and debate about visual culture and acting as a practical resource to artists and others involved in making art public.

We arrived just as the open house was supposed to be shutting down, but the main man there seemed to really get a second wind and gave us a full tour. He was amazing! He used to work on a shipyard, so he does a lot of the heavy-lifting required for the large sculptures (some are HUGE), as well as the work that requires some engineering. He was so excited and passionate to show us the art and to tell us about the artists, it was really inspirational. Even though we were all a bit exhausted and wanted to get away from his speeches by the end of it all, we all loved him and loved the sculpture factory! Here is a little peek inside (the sculptures are by the artist who enthralled me the most, Nuala O'Donovan):