Christ Church Cathedral, one of the oldest buildings in Dublin, looks to be in pretty good shape, or so we were thinking as we approached it near the end of our short walk from Dublin Castle. The windows all looked intact, there didn't seem to be any missing stonework, and the stone itself didn't appear to be particularly weathered. Uncanny, really. And only possible because we were looking at the latest incarnation of the cathedral, whose most recent renovation took place in the 1980's. The cathedral was first built around 1030, under Dublin's king at the time, Sitric Silkenbeard. At this time the church was a wooden structure, and it remained that way until it was rebuilt in stone by invading Normans, starting in the 1180's, with improvements and expansions taking place over the next couple of centuries. In 1562 the cathedral's south wall collapsed when its foundation gave way, and much of the church had to be rebuilt (the north wall survives to this day, but has a lean to it). In the 1870's a major renovation was performed on the cathedral, after it had fallen into disrepair (and had even been declared unsafe for a time). The bell tower was rebuilt, the choir was truncated to the length it had before a 14th Century remodeling, and a baptistery was added. A Synod Hall, also with a bell tower, was built across the street, and a covered footbridge was added to link it to the cathedral (the Synod Hall is now occupied by the Dublinia Museum, which we didn't have a chance to visit).


The inside of the cathedral was also in pretty good condition, again mostly because of the 19th and 20th Century renovations.





In the north aisle is found the Civic Pew, which is reserved for use by the Lord Mayor and other city officials. In the south aisle there is a State Pew, reserved for national officials.

There is a painting on display which looks like a pre-Renaissance painting with a gold background. This painting, known as the Trinity Icon, was actually done in 2008 in the style of a Russian icon, by a Romanian-born artist and scholar (and Dublin resident) named Georgetta Simion. The painting depicts three angels, apparently sitting down for a meal.

One of the Normans who successfully invaded Dublin in the 12th Century, and who helped fund the original stone version of the cathedral, was Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke and owner of the cool nickname Strongbow. Strongbow died in 1176 from an infection and was eventually given a tomb in Christ Church Cathedral. Unfortunately this tomb was destroyed in the 1562 collapse, and Strongbow was assigned a replacement tomb. This tomb displays an effigy of a reclining knight from the 15th Century (originally created for a now-unknown local knight) and a coat of arms which doesn't have any apparent connection with Strongbow. But it's the thought that counts.

Other locals have also been buried in the cathedral, some in the main cathedral, and some underneath, in the crypt.

The crypt dates back to the 12th Century, and is the largest cathedral crypt in Ireland or Britain, with a length exceeding 200 feet. The crypt was open to visitors, including us, and had a number of cathedral artifacts on display, in addition to the tombs. One of the newest displays during our visit was a small selection of costumes created for The Tudors television series (yes, they filmed here too).

The church affiliation of Christ Church has been a complicated issue throughout its history, and remains so to this day. The cathedral began life as a Catholic church (this was the only game in town for Christians at the time), but became affiliated with the Anglican Church of Ireland when Britain went Protestant under Henry VIII. The British Roman Catholic king James II visited for a high mass in 1690, at which time the cathedral was Catholic again. But James lost the fight for his throne to the Protestant William of Orange, so it was back to the Church of Ireland. But even today, the Roman Catholic Holy See claims that Christ Church is the rightful seat of its local archbishop, who is instead based in an acting "pro-cathedral", St. Mary's. To make things even more complicated, just down the hill and in the same diocese as Christ Church is another cathedral, St. Patrick's, which has existed since 1191. This is an unusual situation, as a cathedral is normally the seat of the head bishop of a diocese. There was some understandable contention and confusion at first, but eventually an agreement was hammered out (called the Pacis Compositio) which spelled out which cathedral was responsible for what (e.g. the cathedrals would take turns burying deceased archbishops, unless the deceased archbishops took exception). Eventually this evolved into the present arrangement, in which St. Patrick's is considered the National Cathedral, and Christ Church has been designated the Cathedral of Dublin and Glendalough, acting as the seat for the Archbishop of Dublin.

You can probably guess what our next stop for the day was. Correct! St. Patrick's down the hill, to see what's what.