Dublin was originally a Viking city. In fact until 900, the Vikings ruled Ireland. The symbol above is a representation from an Irish bible trying to depict Noah's ark and the best they could do is picture a Viking type boat with a bird. Today this symbol is the trademark of the Allied Irish bank, the largest bank in Ireland.
The Irish rebelled and took control from the Vikings in the 900s and stayed in power until the 1200s when the british took power and stayed in control to the early 1900s. In the 1540, Henry the 8th decreed that in all the lands he ruled the only religion that could be practiced was that of the Church of England. That is when the problems between the Catholics and the Protestants started. A new profession arose known as "priest catcher" where men were given high bounty for telling the government where the Roman Catholic priests lived.
Dublin Castle Ireland, was until 1922 the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, and is now a major Irish government complex. Most of it dates from the 18th century, though a castle has stood on the site since the days of King John, the first Lord of Ireland. The Castle served as the seat of English, then later British government of Ireland under the Lordship of Ireland (1171–1541), the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800), and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1800–1922). Upon establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, the complex was ceremonially handed over to the newly formed Provisional Government led by Michael Collins (from Wikipedia)
The British had their seat of government in the building right next to the Dublin Castle. In 1922, they turned power over to the Irish provisional government and to Micahel Collins. When he showed up late for the ceremony, the British official in charge said to him
"You are late. We have been waiting for you to get here for seven minutes.
Collins replied : "We have been waiting for you to leave here for seven hundred years"
Our guide, Pillar , was wonderful and seemed to know every street, nook and cranny in Dublin. "Pillar ? , you ask "That does not sound like an Irish name " It is not. She came here six years ago from Spain to study archeology and now is doing graduate studies on World Heritage Cities.
Ireland is most cosmopolitan now that the EU allows residents of any EU country to live and work in any other EU country. At our five star hotel, the restaurant staff was all eastern European and the housekeeping staff was Filipino and African.
Our guide asked us to name the most romantic city in the world and quickly added "If you say Paris or Rome , you are wrong." She said Dublin was the most romantic city because it housed the relic of St, Valentine. In the early 1900 when the Irish Parliament passed a law granting religious freedom to Catholics the Pope sent the remains of St Valentine as both a thank you and a celebration. Our guide noted that even with freedom , worship was low key and many churches were known by the street they were on rather than an obvious Catholic name.
Our guide told us that many of her friends call this church the "Adam and Eve" and not all know its real name which is actually the Church of the Immaculate Conception. It stems back centuries to when the Catholic religion was outlawed so people had to be careful and creative to have a place to hear mass. Many times mass was held in the room behind a pub, a grocery story or a bakery. People would say they would meet at the pub or the store on Sunday meaning that was where mass would be held. The Adam and Eve is the pub next door to the church.
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