Visitor display reveals history of cathedral

LIMERICK’S St Mary’s Cathedral, which dates to 1168, yesterday unveiled a new visitor display tracing its historic connections down the centuries.

On 15 panels, visitors will be able to place world, European, national and local events within the context of each century and see the development and restoration of the cathedral in the same period.

Appreciation of the cathedral’s bells, stained glass organ and mosaic are highlighted in separate panels.

The Dean of St Mary’s Rev Maurice Sirr said: “We wanted to bring the history alive for everyone who enters this magnificent house of God and let them appreciate the events that happened around the world while this building lived its life.”

Florence Nightingale is one of the many historic figures with links to St Mary’s, having been involved in the erection of the east window which was placed in memory of Augustus O’Brien Stafford, who was hailed for his care of the wounded and dying at the hospital in Scutari during the Crimean War.

Other families associated with St Mary’s were the Barringtons, who gave the city a voluntary hospital, and the Perys, who were primarily responsible for Georgian Limerick.

To mark yesterday’s opening of the new visitor attraction at the cathedral, nine children from St Michael’s national school in Barrington Street greeted visitors in period costumes to match the nine different centuries of the cathedral’s life.