Temple Bar
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and Christ Church Cathedral and is being promoted as Dublin’s cultural quarter. It is
home to some of the city’s best night spots, unusual shops, and a large number of restaurants.Temple Bar is home to legendary Irish pubs, such as the Auld Dubliner, Oliver St. John Gogarty, the Temple Bar Pub, and the Palace Bar. It is particularly popular among tourists who go there to stroll through the cobblestone alleyways and browse markets during the day and party in the evening. It is also home to many art organizations, museums, and galleries.
History
Temple Bar’s original name was St. Andrews Parish and it used to be a suburb of medieval and Anglo-Saxon Dublin. It was located outside of the city walls and, after several attacks by the native Irish, was abandoned sometime in the beginning of the 14th century. It wasn’t until the early 17th century that the area was redeveloped again; this time it was the place where wealthy Englishmen built their houses and large gardens.
The two most notable events in the 18th century were the establishment of the republican revolutionary group, ‘The Society of the United Irishmen’, in a pub on Eustace Street, and the first performance of the play, ‘Messiah’, by Handel. Temple Bar somehow also became a place of prostitution and crime towards the end of the century. Especially Fownes Street was infamous for its brothels. Although the area had been home to many skilled artisans and craftsmen before, in the beginning of the 19th century it became less popular, which was a result of the increased crime rate and prostitution. In the early 1900s, Temple Bar was subject to urban decay.
Things began to change for the better in the 1970s when CIE, the national transport company, bought up large pieces of land to build a brand new bus terminal. The buildings, old warehouses, and retail buildings on that land were rented out at low prices until they were demolished. At least that was the plan. Those low prices attracted artists, book shops, record stores, and galleries to Temple Bar and the area lived up once again. Protests by traders and locals caused the bus terminal project to be cancelled. In 1991, the Irish government created a non-profit company, Temple Bar Properties, which was to manage the renovation of the area and make it the new cultural quarter in Dublin.
While Temple Bar may look old nowadays, it is essentially a very young neighborhood in Dublin. The area is filled with cultural institutions and organizations, as well as pubs, nightclubs, fast food restaurants, and bars. It is a major center of nightlife in the city and overconsumption of alcohol remains a problem in the area.
Visiting Temple Bar
The Irish cultural institutions and organizations that are based in Temple Bar are the Irish Photography Center, the Temple Bar Music Center; the Irish Film Institute, the experimental Projects Arts Center; Temple Bar Gallery and Studio, IBAT College Dublin; the Gaiety School of Acting, and the Arthouse Multimedia Center. Other institutions that are headquartered there are the Irish Stock Exchange and the Central Bank of Ireland. The Children’s Cultural Center offers theater classes, workshops, and entertainment to children.Every Saturday and Sunday, the Temple Bar Book Market takes place at Temple Bar Square. The area’s other square, Meetinghouse Square, has outdoor movie screenings in summer.
In the evening, Temple Bar becomes a center of nightlife, drinking, and debauchery. Most nightclubs and pubs focus on money-spending tourists rather than locals. Therefore, prices are higher in Temple Bar than elsewhere in the city. There are, however, some lively and typically Irish pubs to be found in Temple Bar, the most popular of which are the iconic Temple Bar Pub, Oliver St. John Gogarty, the Porterhouse, the Palace Bar, and the Quays Bar.
Nearby Landmarks
Dublin is filled with historic and iconic landmarks, such as Trinity College Dublin, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, and the Guinness Brewery, and Jameson Distillery.Do you see any omissions, errors or want to add information to this page? Sign up.
Author: bramreusen. Last updated: Dec 22, 2014
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