The story of Dublin’s development is told here in a lively and individual way by architectural historian, Maurice Craig. Distilling great complexity, this classic and best-seller is also important because, in its way, it was an inspiration for the conservation movement in Ireland. In 1660, Kilkenny or Drogheda could easily have become the capital of Ireland as far as any of the 9,000 souls that inhabited Dublin were concerned. However in that year, in the grandeur of Paris, the Duke of Ormond had absorbed the idea of a ceremonial capital. While sharing the poverty of the exiled court of the Stuarts in the 1600s, Ireland’s first duke absorbed the architectural ideas of the French capital and took them back with him to his native country. The Frenchified ideas that he acquired in Paris, fostered the architectural development of the numerous hospitals and centres of learning that continue to benefit the people of Dublin to this day.
