Christ Church Cathedral is situated just beside the civic offices, on the western edge of Temple Bar in the heart of Dublin's medieval core. Travel just a bit due west of Trinity College along College Green, Dame Street and Lord Edward Street, parallel to the River Liffey and the church will be in front of you. Buses - 121 and 123 favour the route to this historical church.

Visiting hours: 10.00 - 17.00
Admission prices - Adults €2.50
For concessions
Students and oaps
Groups of ten or more €4.00 per person €2.00 for group concessions.
Added services - Visit the cathedral gift shop and the medieval crypt.

Viking Dublin's cathedral was built on this site c. 1030, and briefly became a cathedral priory under the Benedictines at the end of the 11th century. In 1162, the archbishop of Dublin, Laurence O'Toole (later canonized) introduced the canons regular of St Augustine to the cathedral where they remained until the Reformation. When Henry VIII broke from Rome, the Irish Church, however reluctantly, had to follow suit - and a majority of the bishops did. In Christ Church the last Augustinian prior, Robert Castle alias Paynswick, became the first dean, and the chapter followed suit by changing from regular to secular.

The present shape of the cathedral dates from the 1180s when a new programme of building was instigated under the first Anglo-Norman archbishop, John Cumin. An extended quire was added in the 14th century, and the collapse of the south wall of the nave in 1562 necessitated a temporary rebuilding, which lasted until the 1870s! George Edmund Street, one of the foremost Victorian architects of the time, undertook a complete restoration of Christ Church between 1871-8, at the expense of a Dublin whiskey distiller, Henry Roe, who gave 230,000 (23m today!) to save the cathedral.

As part of this restoration, Street transformed the cathedral and added an elegant bridge across the road to a new hall built for the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, today used for an exhibition on medieval Dublin called Dublinia.

Christian worship is the primary purpose of the cathedral and visitors of all denominations are welcome at the Sunday and weekday services (Anglican rite). The choral services are sung by the cathedral choir, which traces its origins to the choir school founded in 1480. This choir is complemented by the cathedral girls' choir, which was set up in 1995, to offer the girls of Dublin the special experience that is the privilege of a cathedral chorister.

A donation is requested of visitors visiting the cathedral, often to their surprise. In Ireland, historic churches receive no direct financial help from either national or local government. They rely on the vital generosity of the visitors to preserve this building for future generations. Indeed many may wish to subscribe to the Friends of the cathedral, one of the oldest organisations of its kind in these islands, which is active in its support of the cathedral.