Waxing lyrical during popemobile tour

Yesterday was a busy day at Dublin’s Wax Museum on Foster Place.

Not only were those animated twins, Jedward, there to unveil their new, thankfully unanimated, waxy version of themselves but the museum’s popemobile took several lucky passengers for a spin around the city centre.

According to museum director, Paddy Dunning, the popemobile was discovered some years ago behind a curtain during the clear out of the old museum near Parnell Street.

“I think the previous owner of the museum, Donnie Cassidy, obtained it after the clergy were finished with it for the pope’s tour,” he said.

“When we found it, we decided we were going to put it out on the road. We put some wheels on it and put a fantastic Mercedes engine in it and restored the whole body.”

Although much of the design has a new look to it and is emblazoned with the museum’s logo, there is much that remains of the original vehicle, which was specially commissioned for the last papal visit to Ireland — when Pope John Paul II visited in 1979.

The papal crest is still visible on the outside while inside the pope’s chair remains in situ.

As we ambled around the city at a top speed of no more than a couple of angelic miles per hour many people took photos from the street. Some younger people looked on wondering what all the fuss was about. An older woman near Trinity College stopped and stared in wonder at the resurrection of this holy relic. Middle-aged men looked on and sniggered knowingly; quite possibly recalling how they were dragged to the Phoenix Park in the late 70s.

The pope spent three days in Ireland that year. More than one million people came to hear him speak in the Phoenix Park while an estimated 750,000 people saw his motorcade travel through the capital.

The pope also visited Drogheda, Galway and Limerick where he celebrated Mass in front of some 400,000 people.

The popemobile is now available for hire through the museum and Mr Dunning is hoping that “all sorts of organisations and groups will come on board and use it”.

“But at the same time we want people to respect the vehicle. It should be used for transport but at the same time we shouldn’t forget the great day John Paul II spent here,” he said.