Ring of Kerry

Thursday and the weekend trip have been by far my favorite field trip so far! Even the bus ride to Killarney was awesome.

Our stop in Lismore was wonderful. In Millennium Park, just opposite the Cultural Center, is full of water features and several sculptures.

 The one that stood out to me was the carving of St. Carthage. It looks to be carved out of a single tree with the figure of the saint fully released from the wood at the top of the monument. This is a sculpture in-the-round, with all sides finished.

The bottom portion of the trunk is carved in low relief with Celtic symbols. The only artist's name I could find in researching the monument was Nancy Hemming, but I think she only took a photo and sold the image to companies like posters.com and other art print sellers. St. Carthage is the patron saint of both the Catholic and Protestant churches in Lismore, so he deservedly holds a place in the town's focal point of Millennium Park.














 When we finally reached Killarney, instead of going strait to the hotel, we made a stop at Ross Castle. Built in the late 15th century by the O'Donoghue clan, it was one of the last castles to fall to Cromwell's forces during the Irish Confederate War.

It was said that the only way the castle could be taken was by water, and that's where Cromwell attacked from. The flotilla on Lough Leane unnerved the defenders and they surrendered.    

One of our last stops before leaving Killarney on Saturday was St. Mary's cathedral, built in the 19th century. It's a Gothic Revival church, constructed in the familiar shape of a cross by Augustus Welby Pugin. Most consider it one of the best and most notable Gothic Revival churches in Ireland. Unlike most cathedrals in Ireland and the rest of Europe, St. Mary's was built in a field instead of in the center of the town. An interesting point about the construction was that building was suspended during the Great Famine. The finished portions of the building were used as a shelter for the sick and dying from the area.

It contains all the elements we've talked about in class: pointed arch windows, small buttresses along the sides for stability, a rose window on the end of the transept, along with plenty of stained glass.