Monday, September 27, 2010

Custom House

Designed by architect James Gandon and built in 1791, it was once considered the city's most important public building.  The original interiors were destroyed in 1921 when the IRA set fire to the buiding in an attempt to disrupt British rule in Ireland. 

There is a lingering air about this building that is palpable, almost as if the Irish wanted to forget about the violence of the past conflict that this building is a persistent reminder.  Perhaps it is the mismatched Ardbraccan limestone used in the reconstruction of the central dome that creates this aura of an uneven synthesis, even perhaps symbolic of the differences between the British and the Irish themselves.

Isole Borromee