Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin

Royal Hospital Kilmainham is a former hospital and retirement home, now home mainly to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and a venue for concerts and events. Its formal façade and enclosed courtyard reflect a building created for retired soldiers of the Irish Army between 1679 and 1687, under the direction of William Robinson. The project gave Ireland its first large secular building and its first large classical building, and the hospital remains among Dublin’s few surviving structures from the 17th century.

Restoration by the Irish Government brought it into use as IMMA in 1984. The courtyard also has a ceremonial role: on the National Day of Commemoration, the President lays a wreath here for Irish people who died in wars and while serving with the United Nations. Concerts now bring performers and large audiences into these historic grounds.