Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is the Church of Ireland’s national cathedral, and this imposing Gothic building is dedicated to Saint Patrick. Its beginnings reach back to 1191, when a church beside a holy well became a collegiate foundation. The cathedral’s unusual status is part of its story: the Archbishop of Dublin has his seat at Christ Church Cathedral, while Saint Patrick’s serves the Church of Ireland as its national cathedral for the whole island since 1870.

The dean’s office here dates from 1219, and its most famous holder was Jonathan Swift. The building also carries a remarkable academic memory. In 1311, a medieval university was established here, with the dean, William de Rodyard, as its first chancellor; it never flourished and disappeared during the Reformation.

Look at the cathedral as a building shaped by difficult ground as well as worship. Flooding from the River Poddle affected the site for centuries, and the water level remained close enough to the floor that this cathedral has no crypt or basement. What you are seeing is therefore not simply an old church, but a national religious centre, a historic seat of learning, and a building whose hidden space was denied by water.