Cork Views: A day to bask in Cork’s amazing heritage

Mon, 11 Aug, 2025 - 08:22

Cork Heritage Open Day, which takes place on Saturday, August 16, celebrates the amazing architecture and history of the built heritage in Cork city and sees over 35 buildings open their doors free of charge for one day only.

This is the only event of this size and scale happening in the country and includes walks, talks and exhibitions on our rich heritage throughout the city.

This year, Cork Heritage Open Day is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Initially an event for European Capital of Culture in 2005, it has gone from strength to strength and is a testament to how much Cork people love their city and its magnificent heritage.

If Cork Heritage Open Day could be described with one word, for me it would be diversity. It is amazing, for a relatively small city in a small country, how much diversity there is in our built heritage in architectural style and function.

I believe much of this is due to our history as a trading and merchant city. We have always been a city of newcomers and been exposed and open to different cultures and traditions throughout the centuries, all of which, I believe, have strengthened and added to our community and made us a more interesting and vibrant place.

Cork has long been known as a merchant city, trading goods and services throughout the world for centuries. For example, the Cork Butter Exchange was the largest in the world in the 1800s, with nearly 2500 firkins (barrels) of butter passing through it in one morning! The Butter Museum on Cork Heritage Open Day will recount this fascinating story and how butter is still one of our great international success stories

Keeping to the theme of trade and finance, the AIB Bank (formerly the Munster Bank) has been in existence since 1867, and the former Cork Savings Bank (now UCC Centre for Executive Education) was founded in 1817.

It seems fitting there is a talk on Beamish and Crawford by renowned historian Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil in the Cork Savings Bank on Cork Heritage Open Day, as brewing is another long-established industry in Cork. The Heineken Ireland building (formerly Murphys Brewery) will also be open on the day!

Diversity of faith and worship is also evident in Cork city’s built and cultural heritage. The Quaker religion was brought to Cork in 1655, and the fellowship of friends were active in feeding the people of the city in the Famine.

A tour of St Joseph’s cemetery on Cork Heritage Open Day refers to this sad period in our history, visiting the Famine plot there.

There has been a Baptist church in the city since the 17th century, with the current church opening in 1892. It is reported that electricity was installed inside in 1908 at the princely sum of £9!

Last, but not least, are the stunning St Anne’s Church Shandon built in 1722, and magnificent St Fin Barre’s Cathedral designed by William Burgess in the late 1800s. The architecture of both are synonymous with Cork city.

The importance of education and the role many religious organisations played in teaching particularly the poorer parts of Cork can be seen at Nano Nagle Place. Dating from the 18th century, the oldest building on this campus was built in 1771. Nano Nagle founded her first schools there, and is buried at this site in the sister’s graveyard. Her legacy of education lives on both in the museum that interprets her life and work but also in the fact that the recently built Cork Centre for Architectural Education now stands on the site.

Established in 1811 by the Christian brothers, the North Monastery is another such example of religious education. This school is very proud of its various alumni including Tomás McCurtain and Terrence McSwiney as well as te celebrated poet and novelist Brother Gerald Griffin, and Brother John Holland who tested his prototype for the submarine in the school’s ornamental pond!.

Cork has a diverse, strong creative identity that is reflected in its vibrant cultural life. This can be seen in the theatres of the Cork Opera House and the Everyman but also in the places of creation and creativity. The National Sculpture Factory is one such space.

Once a tram warehouse, the sound of the tram tracks are now replaced by the sound of sculptures being fabricated in what has become a unique artistic space. The Backwater Studios, Cork Printmakers and Lavit Gallery and Dance Cork Firkin Crane are other such examples of an older building being repurposed into a new and exciting cultural venue.

Cork Heritage Open Day kick-starts Heritage Week in Cork city. This year the Heritage Week theme is ‘Exploring Our Foundations’. This is very apt for Cork Heritage Open Day as it invites us to delve into the building blocks of heritage; uncovering not just the structures that surround us but also the cultural and natural elements that have impacted us and our communities. By exploring our foundations, we strengthen them, ensuring what defines us today shapes tomorrow.

Diversity, creativity and community are surely the bedrock of Cork city’s heritage and nowhere is this better seen than in the built heritage and architecture of the city on Cork Heritage Open Day.

Cork Heritage Open Day is organised by Cork City Council as part of Heritage Week in partnership with the Heritage Council and is proudly supported by media sponsors The Echo. For a full list of events, see www.corkheritageopenday.ie or pick up a brochure at Cork city libraries or Cork City Tourist Information Office.
National Heritage Week runs from August 16-26, see www.heritageweek.ie