The main thoroughfare west from College Green is Dame
Street . Immediately north, the area between the modern Central
Bank and the Liffey is known as Temple Bar . Until the
dissolution of the monasteries in 1537, the land on which Temple
Bar stands was the property of the Augustinian order. Originally
built on marshy land reclaimed from the Liffey, Temple Bar owes its
name not to the friars, as you might expect, but to a
seventeenth-century owner, Sir William Temple. During the
eighteenth century, the place was a centre for Dublin's low life,
in the shape of brothels and pubs (the pubs are still there), while
in the nineteenth century it attracted the small businesses and
tradesmen who gave it its character.
Bought up in the 1960s by CIE (formerly the state transport
company), which wanted to build a new central bus terminal to
replace the one on the other side of the river, it suffered for
many years from a benign sort of planning blight. Even after the
bus station idea was abandoned in the 1980s, shops, studios and
offices in the area continued to be rented out on short leases and
as a result the streets were full of art galleries, restaurants and
cultural centres. However, over recent years the area has been
extensively redeveloped and has lost much of the bohemian and
anarchic feel that was its appeal to begin with. All the same,
Temple Bar still remains one of the liveliest and most interesting
parts of town, often compared with Covent Garden in London or Les
Halles in Paris. With its emphasis now firmly placed on the
bacchanalian - although stag and hen parties have now been banned -
it's not surprising that the area really comes to life at night, as
revellers spill out from bars onto the narrow streets for impromptu
street parties, while others head to nightclubs such as the
U2-owned Kitchen to hear some of the finest dance music in
town. For those of a more sedate disposition, the super-cool Irish
Film Centre is recommended for movies, eating, or people-spotting.
You can bone up on the more official side of Temple Bar life at the
Temple Bar Information Centre , Eustace Street (June-Aug
Mon-Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 11am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; Sept-May Mon-Fri
9am-6pm, Sat 11am-4pm; tel 671 5717), which publishes a Temple
Bar Guide with a useful map; or consult In Dublin for a
more general guide to what's on.
One of the best places to see work by contemporary Irish artists
is Temple Bar Gallery and Studios , 5-9 Temple Bar (Mon-Sat
10am-6pm, Sun 2-6pm); consisting of thirty studios in all and two
exhibition spaces, it is the biggest complex of its kind in the
country. Next door is the Original Print Gallery where both Irish
and international prints are displayed. Walking away from the river
and onto Crow Street, you can't fail to notice The Green
Building , an experiment in energy-efficient building in a
dense urban area. The roof is made up of propellers and solar
panels, while the facade is decorated with artworks on the theme of
recycling and includes balcony balustrading by James Garner, made
from disused bicycle frames. Tracing your steps back down Crow
Street, Curved Street, off Temple Lane, is home to Temple Bar
Music Centre (Mon-Fri 10am-5.30pm; tel 670 9202,
www.tbmc.ie ), a major concert venue and showcase for new
Irish musical talent. The building consists of recording studios in
the basement, a 340-seat venue on the ground floor, an information
centre on the first and second floors and a music school on the
third. Curved Street leads on to Eustace Street where you'll find
The Ark Children's Cultural Centre (Tues-Fri 9am-4pm; tel
670 7788, www.ark.ie ), a theatre specially designed for
children with a child-size auditorium, child-height windows and a
stage backed by a vertically revolving wall that opens out onto
Meeting House Square to allow for outdoor performances.
At the back of Eustace Street, Meeting House Square is
the second of the main squares in the Temple Bar area and is
surrounded by cultural centres. At the south end stands the
Gallery of Photography ; its main exhibition space is
reached via an opaque-glass stair tower, and on top there's a roof
terrace with views over the square. At the other side you can
access the Irish Film Centre ( www.fii.ie ), but, if
you want to really appreciate the building, it's best to retrace
your steps and use the entrance on Eustace Street. The IFC was, in
many ways, the inspiration for much of the architecture in the
area, and is a coolly minimalist conversion of an old Quaker
meeting house. Inside is a courtyard with a film bookshop, an
excellent restaurant and bar, plus two screens where you can catch
an interesting repertory of art-house movies. The National Film
Archive and Film Base, an independent co-operative of Irish
film-makers, is also housed here. A worthwhile introduction to
Irish film is screened every afternoon. Taking the Sycamore Street
exit from the IFC and walking towards the river, you'll come to the
DESIGNyard , a space for showing contemporary Irish
jewellery, furniture and interior design. The building itself is a
converted eighteenth-century china warehouse, and the
mosaic-patterned floor is designed to represent the River Poddle
which flows beneath the building.
The elegant, arching pedestrian bridge that leads from Temple
Bar to the north bank of the Liffey is known as the Ha'penny
Bridge , from the toll which was charged until the early 1900s.
Close by, on the northside of the river, is The Winding Stair at 40
Lower Ormond Quay, a kind of northerly outpost of the anarchic
spirit of Temple Bar as it used to be before the money-men arrived.
Here you'll find an excellent secondhand bookshop with plenty of
good remaindered paperbacks, and a café where you can sit and stare
peacefully through the grimy windows while the Liffey oozes past
the Ha'penny Bridge.