The most beautiful churches cathedrals basilicas and chapels Ireland

Built on the site of a former Franciscan monastery that gave its name to the street, this neoclassical church was built in 1830 to commemorate the emancipation of Catholics in Ireland.

A Catholic church built between 1859 and 1864 by architect Charles Francis Hansom. Its interior presents colorful stained glass, an impressive organ and a magnificent wooden roof on which fourteen angels are sculpted. These carved elements were made with wood imported from the Black Forest in Germany.

Without doubt, it is a small wonder; considered the oldest Romanesque church in Ireland still standing (1127-1134), built by Cormac maccarthy, prince bishop of Cashel. The chapel of the chapel is populated with heads and mouth of animals, in a style extremely close to that of Dysert O 'Dea Castle, in the county of Clare (the same artists have worked there?).

The frescoes over 800 years old in the choir, the oldest of its kind in Ireland, are the subject of careful restoration work. You will certainly distinguish some remains of colors, very expensive at the time, including the clear blue that comes from Venice. The pillars are composed of geometrical patterns entirely typical of the Irish Romanesque and without a really apparent order: lodges, stars, broken lines… Facing the choir, a magnificent sculpted tomb may be the tomb of Cormac himself. Take a closer look: delicate ornaments representing interlaced animals and snakes would be Viking style.

This church of the th century would have been built on a church site founded by Saint Patrick.

On the heights of New Ross, the ruins of a beautiful Anglican-style Anglican church built between 1210 and 1220, under the reign of Guillaume le Maréchal. One of the oldest and largest medieval churches in Ireland.

This is the exact place where the Virgin Mary was born on the afternoon of August 21, 1879 with Saint Joseph and Saint John the evangelist.

To get to Clonfert from Galway, take the N 6 towards Dublin. Clonfert is indicated in the vicinity of Ballinasloe (60 km from Galway). 563 th century cathedral, which is said to be built on the site of a monastery founded by St. Brendan in. It must be recognized that his porch deserves all the detours and returns to observe it at length. Undoubtedly, this is the most beautiful portal in Ireland. Not that it is monumental, on the contrary, it is its intimate character that keeps the attention. Its pillars, of all human proportions, are symmetrically sculpted with different motifs (web, escutcheons, crossed lines), as well as its arches (gueules wolves, or balls decorated with floral motifs). The most surprising of these is the triangular contour of five heads in niches surmounted, within this triangular form, of faces which arise in the middle of fifteen triangles (the geometric figure in the geometrical figure). There is an example of unique decoration in the Romanesque art.

This chapel is considered the smallest chapel in Ireland and the smaller second in the world!