Merrion Square: A Walk Through Time

Devote a civilised afternoon to exploring the Georgian precincts of Merrion Square, one of Dublin’s most elegant public spaces, with three sides of lovely family homes for the gentry built to surround the newly constructed Leinster House, home of James Fitzgerald, who famously remarked: “Where I go, others will follow”.

Hear the tales (scurrilous and otherwise!) of the Square’s former occupants, including such larger-than-life characters as Oscar Wilde, the Duke of Wellington, Lord Edward Fitzgerald (and his valet), and physicist Edwin Schrödinger. View their homes as well as those of many other leading lights of Irish political, social and literary life from the mid-1750s to the early years of Independence.

Although only 12 acres in area, Merrion Square residents connect with points all over the globe, from Bernardo O’Higgins, the Liberator of Chile; William Dargan, whose pioneering engineering projects can still be seen all over Ireland; Surgeon-General Thomas Heazle Parke, the first Irishman to cross the African continent as a member of Henry Morton Stanley’s expedition; and, of course, Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde, whose literary works are known all over the world.

The Square also contains many monuments of artistic interest, covering such diverse figures as Michael Collins; George William Russell; and Dermot Morgan, of “Father Ted” fame.

Meet your guide, Geraldine Moran, at the entrance to the National Gallery of Art, and be prepared to travel through time and space!