Dilemma in Dublin

“Pubs, Celtic culture, art, beer? Ireland has it all.”

Drink a Guinness in a pub or in a church?

The capital of the Republic of Ireland offers visitors history, architecture, art, culture and the opportunity to enjoy authentic Guinness beer at the St. James's Gate brewery viewing platform, which guarantees a grandiose 360-degree view of the city. 

My stay was brief so I had to maximize the journey.

So it was that on the first day after leaving the hotel I took O' Connell Street, in order to get a closer look at the controversial icon The Spire, a conical stainless steel sculpture over 100 meters high, located right in front of the old Post Office, the scene of historic struggles for Irish independence. Indeed, the marks of the shootings can still be seen when approaching the colonnade of the -now- GPO History Museum (General Post Office), a symbol of the heat of the Easter Rising of 1916.

On the other side of the River Liffey, I admired the facade of the Bank of Ireland for a moment. Then I headed to Suffolk Street to meet the famous and mysterious Molly Malone. It is a sculpture that personifies a popular cockle and mussel seller in whose honor the song of the same name, almost an anthem of Ireland, was created.

I dare to find some similarity with Antonio Berni's Ramona at a local scale, cult characters that characterize the popular classes.

Without delay, a concise but valuable visit to the library of Trinity College awaited me. The college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I of England, a feminist of the greats. The architecture of the Long Room of its Old Library prompts an extraordinary visual exercise in perspective appreciation. In addition to the Book of Kells, perhaps one of the most important relics of medieval religious art, whose manufacture is attributed to 9th century Celtic monks, a copy of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic is on display. The enclosure is unique, of a perfect beauty.

Next I visited the National Gallery of Ireland, I had to fulfill the promise made to one of those valuable friends that art has given me and contemplate The Kiss of Judas by Caravaggio. The dramatic chiaroscuro, also known as The Capture of Christ, was missing and became famous when it was discovered in the dining room of a Jesuit residence in Dublin in the 1990s.

I also explored the important collection of European art and admired the Dublin architecture, including the controversial Millennium Wing inaugurated in 2002, where an infusion accompanied a well-deserved rest in the former winter garden converted into a double-height glass-roofed Foyer.

The elegant room dedicated to the writer George Bernard Shaw, who in gratitude bequeathed a third of his royalties to the gallery, deserves special mention. His expression "without art, the rawness of reality would make the world unbearable" is a testimony to his vocation for mordacity and genius.

For its delicate simplicity, for the movement it evokes, or for its candid and solitary presence, Joseph Walsh's sculpture Magnus Modus (2017) located in the center of the museum's inner courtyard is the most powerful image I kept from that walk.

Before leaving, to honor my tradition, I browsed -of course- its museum shop.

It was getting dark, so it was the perfect time to try a Guinness in the busy neighborhood of The Temple Bar. Narrow, colorful streets, with pubs on every corner, lively music and colorful characters. This was the setting for my first pint of black, concentrated, creamy foam, which left a good impression on me.

Therefore, the next day I did not hesitate to repeat the experience after a tour of the Guinness Storehouse.

A thematic museum was set up in the brewery, revealing the process by which water, hops, barley and yeast produce the characteristic Irish drink.

Peculiar objects are also exhibited, such as the 9,000-year lease signed by Arthur Guinness in 1759. After interactive experiences, which are intended to dust off the senses of smell and taste, you enter the Gravity Bar, to enjoy the beer with a panoramic view of Dublin.

Early in the morning, a brief tour to the city's great green lung, Phoenix Park, preceded the visit to the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Like Les Invalides in Paris or the Reina Sofía in Madrid, this cultural center is housed in the former 17th century Royal Kilmainham Hospital. Contemporary works are exhibited in spacious rooms and even in its vast gardens.

In the afternoon, an early bird menu on the second floor of The Church was preceded by another Guinness in the chapel bar. This is a restaurant, café and bar located in a church closed in 1964 and reopened in 2007 with a different mission, no longer as a center for worship but for leisure. The entire floor of the central nave is now the bar of the complex, with an extensive bar in the center and musicians in the porch area.

In the second floor galleries, above the side aisles, is the restaurant from which you can also appreciate the revelry below as well as the remarkable organ above the former altar.

The experience is unique, not only for being one of the most peculiar pubs I have ever visited, but also for the tasty Irish food that accompanied that last beer.

My journey in Dublin felt like the hectic adventures described by James Joyce in his famous novel Ulysses, as delightful and impetuous as the city where it takes place.