According to abbreviationfinder, Dublin is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, at the mouth of the Liffey at Dublin Bay Irish Sea, (2016) 553 200 residents; 1.17 million people live in the urban agglomeration (around a quarter of the population of the Republic of Ireland).
Dublin is the country’s cultural, industrial and commercial center as well as the seat of a Catholic and an Anglican Archbishop. There are three universities in Dublin (University of Dublin [Trinity College], National University of Ireland, Dublin City University), colleges of the Institute of Technology and medical colleges, National College of Art and Design, among others; Goethe Institute, Trinity College Library, National Library. Among the numerous museums are the National Museum, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin Writers Museum, The Hugh Lane Gallery, Irish Jewish Museum and others. worth mentioning.
The diverse industry produces in particular software, electronic products, food and luxury goods (cigarettes, beer, etc.); More than 800 foreign industrial and service companies (including pharmaceutical and biotechnological industries) have settled in several industrial parks. Dublin is an international financial services center with banks, insurance companies, stock exchanges. The tourism industry (2016: 5.7 million visitors) is growing in importance.
A tunnel (“Dublin Port Tunnel”) has been connecting the port to the motorway network since 2006, and a tram network (“Luas”) has existed since 2004. The international airport is located in the north of the city.
Attractions
The Liffey divides the city into a northern and southern half. The main attractions are in the southern part: the first bishop of Dublin, Dunan, founded in 1038 what is now the Anglican Christ Church Cathedral, which was renovated as a transept basilica at the end of the 12th century, expanded in the 14th century and restored in 1870–78. Nearby is Saint Audoen’s Church, the only unchanged church from the Middle Ages (13th century). The also Anglican Saint Patrick’s Cathedral (founded in the 11th century) was also started in 1213 in early Gothic forms with a transept (lateral west tower from the 14th century with a helmet from 1739); its current appearance – with a length of 93 m it is the largest church in Ireland – is mainly determined by the restorations in 1864–69.
Since the 18th century, the city has seen major expansions. Trinity College, founded in 1591, received new classical buildings in the 18th century, and the Old Library (1712–32) with a valuable collection of manuscripts is particularly worth seeing.
Other buildings from this period are the Bank of Ireland (built in 1792 as a parliament building), Mansion House (1705, seat of the Lord Mayor since 1715) with rotunda (1821) and Royal Irish Academy, Saint Ann’s Church (1720) with a neo-Romanesque facade (19th century)), Parliament Building (1745, formerly the town house of the Dukes of Leinster) and the City Hall, originally built as a stock exchange (1769–79). Dublin Castle (13th century), which is located in the immediate vicinity, goes back in its present form essentially to the 18th and 19th centuries (including a chapel in the neo-Gothic style, 1807-14).
With the National Library, National Museum and National Gallery of Ireland (opened in 1864 and expanded several times, most recently the Millennium Wing by Benson & Forsyth was inaugurated in 2002), the city’s most important museums are also located in the south.
On the north bank of the Liffey, J. Gandon built the Custom House in 1781–91 and the Palace of Justice in the classical style from 1786–1802. Other notable buildings include the Abbey Theater (opened in 1904, destroyed by fire in 1951 and rebuilt), the Catholic Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral (built on the model of the Theseus Temple in Athens and consecrated in 1825) and the Charlemont House (1762, seat of the Hugh Lane Gallery since 1927). In Dublin-Glasnevin built R. Turner 1842-50 the iron structures of the greenhouses of the National Botanic Gardens. To the northwest of the city center is the 808 hectare Phoenix Park with the zoological garden. The 123 m high steel needle »The Spire« (2003, by I. Ritchie). Notable new buildings are the Samuel Beckett Bridge over the Liffey by S. Calatrava (2007-09) as well as the Grand Canal Theater (Ireland’s largest theater, opened in 2010) by D. Libeskind and the Convention Center (opened in 2010; by EK Roche ) in the Docklands Dublins.
History
Dublin Bay has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The name of the city goes back to the oldest Gaelic settlement at an important ford through the Liffey (Átha Cliath, »ford on the Knüppeldamm«), furthermore to the »black pond« (linn dubh, English black pool), a silted extension of the Liffey tributary Poddle. On the south bank of the Liffey, Vikings established a fortified settlement (longphort, Old Norse Dyflinni) in 841, which developed into the center of a Viking kingdom. In 988 the place was conquered by the Irish King Mael Sechnaill II. At Clontarf, a suburb of Dublin, a united Viking army suffered a defeat in 1014 against the forces of the Irish High King Brian Boru, who, however, fell in battle.
In 1171/72 Dublin was the first Irish city to be subordinated to the English crown and was given city rights by Bristol. The city castle of Dublin, built on the site of the first Viking fort in the 13th century (Dublin Castle; construction began in 1204, restored in the 18th century) was the starting point for the English conquest of the island. Around 1030 Dublin became a bishopric, and in 1152 an archbishopric (Anglican since 1536, a Catholic archbishop since 1555). After 1652, Dublin developed into a culturally and economically prosperous community as the capital of Ireland, which was now completely under English control, and was the second most important city in the British Empire in the 18th century. Its importance declined after the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801, Ireland, History) first back. In 1916 Dublin was the main venue for the Irish Easter Rising, and in 1922 it became the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
