[Photo from visitdublin.com]

The City Assembly House is home to the Irish Georgian Society which promotes Ireland’s architectural heritage and decorative arts. It is an eighteenth-century building of historical, artistic and architectural importance that is being restored as a cultural venue to host exhibitions, musical performances and other events.

During the summer of 2013 it will host an exhibition of photographs from James Fennell & Turtle Bunbury’s Vanishing Ireland series which look at dying ways and traditions of Irish life that were assembled in a bid to chronicle a world that is disappearing rapidly. All visitors are welcome and entry is free.

The City Assembly House will also be the starting point every Tuesday for architectural tours of Dublin’s domestic and civic architecture with distinguished historians Dr. Conor Lucey and Dr John Montague – €15 p.p. book online at www.igs.ie.

A small shop offers a selection of books and gift items.

Built in the 1760s, the City Assembly House possesses the first purpose built public Exhibition Room in Ireland or Britain and possibly in the whole of Europe. For 20 years after its opening, the works of Ireland’s greatest 18th century artists were shown in the building and during this time it also served as an academy for the arts. For the first half of the 19th century the building was used by Dublin Corporation as City Hall during which time it played an essential political role in the country. Daniel O’Connell, The Liberator, presided over meetings as Lord Mayor in its Exhibition Room and is reputed to have delivered the finest speech of his career in that room.

Having served as a museum for much of the 20th century and lain unused for the last ten years, the City Assembly House is now being restored by the Irish Georgian Society in partnership with Dublin City Council as a cultural venue on one of Dublin’s most exciting and vibrant streets.

Address: 58 South William Street, Dublin 2

Contact: +353 1 679 8675 info@igs.ie

Web: www.igs.ie