Making Victorian Dublin, a closer look at Trinity’s Museum Building

Posted on: 22 August 2017

In January 2017 an interdisciplinary project, ‘Making Victorian Dublin’, was initiated by Trinity’s Department of History of Art and Architecture and Department of Geology, focusing on the materials and craftsmanship of the University’s Museum Building.

The collaborative project explores the pioneering role of the Museum Building in the employment of Irish ‘marble’ and the industry which sourced, supplied and crafted the stone. Researchers have uncovered new material on contemporary quarrying and stone carving and have discovered new and diverse sources for the architecture of the building.

Principal Investigator for ‘Making Victorian Dublin’ and Associate Professor in Architectural History, Dr Christine Casey, commented “We are learning more about the remarkable O’Shea brothers who carved the building’s superlative stone ornament and about the burgeoning culture of craftsmanship in south-western Ireland which helps to explain their remarkable virtuosity and ambition.”

A network of specialists and practitioners have been consulted on the carving, architecture, conservation and digital presentation of the building and links have also been established with international scholars of architecture and decorative stone in advance of an Autumn think-tank on 3rd October 2017. There will also be a public symposium, 9th-10th February 2018. Both events will take place on Trinity’s main campus.

This project is funded by the Irish Research Council New Horizons Interdisciplinary Research Project Award.

For further information please contact Dr Christine Casey caseych@tcd.ie and Dr Patrick Wyse Jackson wysjcknp@tcd.ie