Dublin is both the largest city and the capital of Ireland. It is located near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and at the centre of the Dublin Region. Founded as a Viking settlement, the city has been Ireland's primary city for most of the island's history since medieval times. Today, it is an economic, administrative and cultural centre for the island of Ireland, and has one of the fastest growing populations of any European capital city.
Literature
The city has a world-famous literary history, having produced many prominent literary figures, including Nobel laureates William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw and Samuel Beckett. Other influential writers and playwrights from Dublin include Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and the creator of Dracula, Bram Stoker. It is arguably most famous, however, as the location of the greatest works of James Joyce.
Arts
Dublin is also the focal point for much of Irish Art and the Irish artistic scene. The Book of Kells, a world-famous manuscript produced by Celtic Monks in A.D. 800 and an example of Insular art, is on display in Trinity College. If you have time outside of congress hours, please consider viewing this national treasure. Trinity College, in collaboration with the Irish Heart Foundation, has decided to offer all delegates upon presentation of their congress badge a discounted rate. The fee to visit is €3.25 instead of €8.50. Delegates can avail of this special offer from 2 - 6 May.
Work by local artists is often put on public display around St. Stephen's Green, the main public park in the city centre.
In the 1990s a lost Caravaggio, The Taking of Christ, known through replicas, was discovered hanging in a Jesuit house of studies in Leeson Street in Dublin by Sergio Benedetti, senior conservator of the gallery. The painting can be viewed at the National Gallery.
Theatre
Keeping the city’s rich theatre tradition alive, The Grand Canal Theatre, located across the street from the Convention Centre Dublin, is a great place to take in an authentic Irish stage performance. Classics from European and world theatre and new plays by established playwrights are also staged throughout the year.
Culture
Temple Bar, Dublin’s Cultural Quarter is located on the south bank of the River Liffey and is home to more than 50 cultural organisations offering you an opportunity to experience contemporary arts in some of the most spectacular and innovative cultural venues in the city.
Music
A huge draw to Dublin for people is to experience real Irish traditional music, or as the locals call it; ‘Trad’. You will be enchanted by the diverse musical sounds as you stroll through Temple Bar and Grafton Street as buskers and street performers entertain and enliven the streets.
Architecture
From her humble beginnings as a Viking trading port to a walled medieval city and then, in a glorious century of expansion, to an elegant Georgian metropolis with wide streets, gracious squares and great houses, neatly bordered by its two canals, Dublin is a city that will capture your heart. In the 18th century the city acquired this beautiful and distinctive style of architecture. Dublin Georgian architecture is so called as this was a style developed between 1714 to 1830. Four King George’s reigned in this period, hence the adaption of the name Georgian Dublin.
So Céad Míle Fáilte or a Hundred Thousand Welcomes!!!!