Dunraven 200 Exhibition Official Opening

The Dunraven 200 Exhibition well be held in Saint Mary’s Cathedral from 19 August to 30 November 2024. The official opening will be held in the Cathedral on Thursday 22 August at 6.00 pm.

Dunraven 200 will celebrate the major contribution made by the Earls of Dunraven to the heritage, culture and public life of Limerick City and County over the past two centuries. The exhibits will consist of items from the Dunraven private collection which the Dunraven family have agreed for this exhibition, plus relevant objects from the Museum's own collection. The exhibition will begin with an account of the rise of the family with the gradual accumulation of the estate between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. It will be chiefly structured around the seven holders of the Earldom of Dunraven between 1822 and 2011 and a number of themes such as the family’s contribution to the built heritage, politics and philanthropy.

The family's creation of Adare Manor and the village of Adare in the nineteenth century will be a major theme. Particular emphasis will be placed on three major figures in the history of the family, Caroline, Countess of Dunraven (1790-1870); Windham, 4th Earl of Dunraven (181-1926); and Thady, 7th and last Earl of Dunraven (1939-2011). It concludes by emphasising that while the title became extinct in 2011, the family continue to play a very active role in the social and cultural life of Limerick to the present day.