Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [278]
HUNT MUSEUM
Although named for its benefactors, this museum ( 061-312 833; www.huntmuseum.com; Palladian Custom House, Rutland St; adult/child €8/4.25, free Sun; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat, 2-5pm Sun) might well be named for the kind of hunt you do for treasure. Visitors are encouraged to open drawers and otherwise poke around the finest collection of Bronze Age, Iron Age and medieval treasures outside Dublin. The 2000-plus items are from the private collection of the late John and Gertrude Hunt, antique dealers and consultants, who championed historic preservation throughout the region. Look out for a tiny but exquisite bronze horse by da Vinci, and a Syracusan coin thought to have been one of the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judas for his betrayal of Christ. Cycladic sculptures, a Giacometti drawing and paintings by Renoir, Picasso and Jack B Yeats add to the feast. Guided tours from the dedicated and colourful volunteers are available.
The museum has an excellent in-house restaurant, DuCarts (Click here).
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FRANK MCCOURT
No recent person has been as closely linked to Limerick as Frank McCourt (1930–2009). His autobiographical novel Angela’s Ashes was a surprise publishing sensation in 1996, bringing him fame and honours (including the Pulitzer Prize).
Although he was born in New York City, McCourt’s immigrant family returned to Limerick four years later, unable to survive in America. His childhood was filled with the kinds of deprivations that were all too common at the time: his father was a drunk who later vanished, three of his six siblings died in childhood and at age 13 he dropped out of school to earn money to help his family survive.
At age 19, McCourt returned to New York and later worked for three decades as a teacher in the city’s high schools. Among the subjects he taught was writing. He dabbled in writing and theatre with his brother Malachy beginning in the 1970s. He got started on Angela’s Ashes only after he retired from teaching in 1987. Its early sales success was thanks to a bevy of enthusiastic critics, but in Limerick the reaction was much more mixed, with many decrying the negative portrait it painted of the city.
Today McCourt’s legacy in Limerick is more celebrated. There’s an exhibit about the Limerick of the book at the Georgian House & Garden (below), and you can visit one of the pubs mentioned in the book, South’s Click here. The tourist office Click here has information about tours of sights related to the book.
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GEORGIAN HOUSE & GARDEN
There is an engaging eeriness about the lofty, echoing rooms of the restored Georgian House ( 061-314 130; 2 Pery Sq; adult/child €8/4; 10am-4pm Mon-Fri), a recreation showing how Limerick’s swells once lived. Lavish marble, stucco and wall decorations adorn the main rooms, while things are decidedly downscale when you reach the bare boards and dusty furnishings of the servants’ quarters. You’ll say ‘Brace yourself, Bridget!’ reading the hackneyed but entertaining limericks on various wall plaques. The restored back garden is an antidote – and beautiful contrast – to the plain fronts on the street. It leads to a coach house that contains a photographic memoir of Limerick. A small Ashes Exhibition linked to novelist Frank McCourt was under renovation at the time of writing.
LIMERICK CITY GALLERY OF ART
A mix of traditional paintings from the last 300 years covers every inch of wall space in the Limerick City Gallery of Art ( 061-310 633; www.limerickcitygallery.ie; Carnegie Bldg, Pery Sq; admission free; 10am-6pm Mon-Wed & Fri, to 7pm Thu, to 5pm Sat, 2-5pm Sun). The gallery is beside the peaceful People’s Park, at the heart of Georgian Limerick. The permanent collection features work by Sean Keating and Jack B Yeats. Check out Keating