National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

The National Gallery of Ireland is the building before you, home to Ireland’s national collection of Irish and European art. Its entrance opens from Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another entrance is on Clare Street. The gallery began in 1854 and welcomed visitors a decade later, created as a permanent public collection after the enthusiasm generated by Dublin’s Great Industrial Exhibition.

Its collection now holds about 14,000 artworks, including paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, furniture and other works of art. The original building was designed by Francis Fowke from early plans by Charles Lanyon. Its façade follows the design of the Natural History building planned for the adjoining flank of Leinster House.

The complex has grown through several additions: the Milltown Wing, the Beit Wing and the Millennium Wing. The Millennium Wing brings a striking stone façade and a grand atrium to the street, while the earlier wings were refurbished and their period character restored in 2017. Inside, the Irish paintings are joined by notable Italian Baroque works and Dutch masters.

A particularly dramatic story belongs to Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ, which was rediscovered in a Jesuit house of studies in Dublin during the 1990s and then displayed here. Caroline Campbell is the gallery’s current director.