Limerick is a city in County Limerick, Ireland. It is located in the Mid-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. The city lies on the River Shannon, with the historic core of the city located on King’s Island, which is bounded by the Shannon and Abbey Rivers. Limerick is also located at the head of the Shannon Estuary, where the river widens before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Limerick City and County Council is the local authority for the city.
Culture
In 2014, Limerick became Ireland’s inaugural National City of Culture, with a variety of artistic and cultural events occurring at locations around the city throughout the year.
The Limerick City Gallery of Art on Pery Square is the city’s chief venue for contemporary art exhibitions. It is home to a permanent collection of Irish art, which shows works from the early 18th to 20th century. The gallery houses the National Collection of Contemporary Drawing founded by the artist Samuel Walsh in 1987. Limerick’s major contemporary art event is EVA International, Ireland’s Biennial of Contemporary Art. EVA International, centered mainly in the Limerick City Gallery of Art, is curated by varying guest curators and includes contemporary artworks by both international and Irish artists.
The Lime Tree Theatre officially opened at the Mary Immaculate College campus in October 2012. The venue hosts theatre, music, comedy, traditional arts, schools’ performances and conferences.
The Belltable Arts Centre on O’Connell Street hosts local playwrights and drama productions. The University Concert Hall located in the University of Limerick is a 1,000 seat venue and provides a large venue for national and international acts to visit the city. Limerick is also the home of street theatre companies, including “The Umbrella Project”.
Limerick’s literature scene is supported by projects like the Limerick Writers’ Centre, which was established in 2008 and runs a range of writing activities in the city. Limerick natives include Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt; novelists Kate O’Brien, Michael Curtin, Kevin Barry and Donal Ryan. Poets from Limerick include Michael Hogan, Desmond O’Grady, and John Liddy.
Other Limerick arts groups include Contact Studios, which provides individual studio spaces for visual artists; the Daghdha Dance Company, a contemporary dance company that has adopted a renovated church in John’s Square, adjacent to St John’s Cathedral, as a performance space); the Fresh Film Festival, which is held each spring, and includes films made by young people (7–18 years); Impact Theatre Company; and Limerick Printmakers Studio and Gallery, which provides printmaking facilities, a venue for exhibitions and events and an education programme.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Irish World Music Centre are both based in the University of Limerick. The university has a thousand-seat state-of-the-art concert hall that hosts visiting performers. The city’s music scene has produced bands such as The Cranberries, guitarist Noel Hogan‘s MonoBand, The Hitchers and others. Electronic musician Richard D. James, more commonly known as Aphex Twin, was born in Limerick in 1971. The Limerick Art Gallery and the Art College cater for painting, sculpture and performance art.
Limerick is also home to comedians The Rubberbandits, D’Unbelievables (Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny) and Karl Spain. Dolan’s Warehouse on the Dock Road is a venue specialising in live music, established in 1998. Baker Place was a nightclub that held mainly local underground nights until its closure in 2011. In 2020, it was announced that the Dromkeen-based Shiloh Trust was seeking planning permission to convert the former premises of Baker Place into a bible school. The Crush 87 nightclub (formerly known as Trinity Rooms until its closure in 2010), was relaunched in 2013.
The city is the setting for Frank McCourt‘s memoir Angela’s Ashes and the film adaptation. The Frank McCourt Museum situated in Frank’s former school on Hartsonge Street opened in 2011 and contains artefacts from the book. Limerick has also been the setting or location for a number of other films, including the dramas The Real Thing (2002), Cowboys & Angels (2003) and Lost & Found (2015).
Riverfest is a summer festival held annually in Limerick since 2004. The 2014 festival was held in May and had a record 80,000 visitors.
Places of interest
Limerick city is approximately 25 km from Shannon Airport. Tourist attractions in the city centre include Limerick City Museum, King John’s Castle (1210), St Mary’s Cathedral (1168), the Hunt Museum, the University of Limerick, Georgian houses and gardens and the Treaty Stone. There are several seasonal tours, including Angela’s Ashes walking tour of Limerick City, historical walking tour, and boat tours along the River Shannon.
The city centre is divided between the traditional areas of “English Town” on the southern end of King’s Island, which includes the King John’s Castle; “Irish Town”, which includes the older streets on the south bank; and the current economic centre further south, called “Newtown Pery”. Newtown Pery was built in the late 18th century before the Act of Union and, unusually for an Irish city and unique in Limerick, is laid out on a grid plan. The Limerick City Museum (formerly aka the Jim Kemmy Municipal Museum), is located in Istabraq Hall, City Hall, Merchant’s Quay. It contains displays on Limerick’s history and manufactures.
The Georgian core of the city, with its Georgian architecture in the Newtown Pery, was developed from the mid 18th century. This core includes O’Connell Street (George Street before independence) from the Cecil Street intersection running to the south west end of the Crescent, and south-east to Pery Street including Glentworth Street and Barrington Street. Other buildings of architectural note in the city are St John’s Cathedral, designed by the notable Victorian architect, Philip Charles Hardwick. St Mary’s Cathedral, at over 800 years old, is one of the oldest in Ireland. St John’s Cathedral, whilst more modern, has Ireland’s tallest spire at 94 m (308 ft). The Hunt Museum is based in the historic 18th-century former Custom House. The museum was established to house a collection of approximately 2000 works of art and antiquities formed by John and Gertrude Hunt during their lifetimes.
The main park in Limerick is the People’s Park which was opened in 1877 in memory of Richard Russell, a prominent local business man. The park is dominated by the Thomas Spring Rice memorial (MP for the city 1820–1832) and has a large collection of mature deciduous and evergreen trees.
Limerick city centre changed significantly with the construction of several modern high-rise buildings in the early 2000s, in particular as part of the regeneration of the former docks area along the Dock Road. The suburban areas, where the majority of the population now live, have grown out from the centre along the main roads to Ennis (North Circular and Ennis Road areas/Caherdavin), Dublin (Castletroy and the University) and Cork (Ballinacurra/Dooradoyle/Raheen). Suburban houses are generally two-floor semi-detached homes for single families. These were built from the 1950s onwards in large estates by government projects and commercial developments, although there are many examples of Edwardian and older 1930s suburban homes on the main suburban thoroughfares leading towards the city (North & South Circular, Ballinacurra Road, O’Connell Avenue).
O’Connell Monument to Daniel O’Connell at The Crescent
Limerick city’s nightlife is supported by a number of nightclubs and pubs which offer music. For example, Dolan’s Warehouse is a small music venue which hosts local, national and international folk, indie, jazz, rock and traditional Irish music acts.
In County Limerick, Adare village and the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, approximately 35 km (22 miles/30 minutes) from Limerick City along the scenic coastal N69 route from Limerick to Tralee, are also attractions. Bunratty Castle in County Clare is another local attraction, and is situated 15.4 km north of the city. Limerick is known to be the antipodes to the Campbell Islands of New Zealand.
