Ireland. Eire. Part III. Фомина И.В. - 18 стр.

architecture, with the two Dublin cathedrals, Christ Church and Saint Patrick’s,
being the most notable. The Normans built substantial castles with large rectan-
gular keeps, many of which still figure on the landscape. Trim castle in county
Meath and Carrickfergus castle in County Antrim, both started in the 1180s, are
two very fine surviving examples of this Norman architecture. The fifteenth cen-
tury castle at Cahir in County Tipperary is the most impressive of the surviving
feudal strongholds.
       In the three centuries before the 1500s, comparatively little architecture of
lasting significance was designed, reflecting the deeply troubled state of the
country. A rare example of medieval architecture is the Rothe House in Kil-
kenny, a merchant’s house with a courtyard, built in 1594 and meticulously re-
stored. By the late seventeenth century, the Classical style started to arrive in
Ireland. The first public building in this idiom was the Royal Hospital at Kil-
mainham, Dublin, constructed between 1680 and 1684. It has now been com-
pletely restored.
       Classical buildings date from the late seventeenth century. At the turn of
the eighteenth century Palladian mansions were emulating Italian palazzos, but
to the end of the century, this style had given way to neo-classicism and Dublin
became an outstanding example of Georgian architecture. Key buildings from
this period include the Custom House and the Four Courts in Dublin, with their
distinctive copper domes, designed by James Gandon (1743–1823). Notable
public buildings designed in the period include the old Parliament House in
Dublin (now the Bank of Ireland) and Castletown in County Kildare. The Geor-
gian squares of Dublin, happily still largely intact, are a graceful living monu-
ment to this era of architectural elegance.
       By the nineteenth century Gothic revivalism was in vogue influencing the
design of churches such as Saint Finn Barre’s Cathedral (1867) in Cork and
adapted to domestic architecture in the construction of Ashford Castle (c. 1870),
County Mayo.
       The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland was set up in 1839, re-
flecting the emergence of a native architectural profession. During the nine-
teenth century much of the public building done in Ireland was of churches,
while large-scale housing development began for the first time. In the Belfast
area, the advent of the industrial revolution meant the creation of many factories.
This factory development was largely confined to the Belfast region; in other
ways too, the north of Ireland developed its own system of town planning, en-
couraged by the Plantation of Ulster. Derry has such an early town plan, while
the Diamond to be found there and in other Northern towns, is a typical feature
of Plantation planning. In the twentieth century, architectural styles in all parts
of Ireland have become much more similar. International trends have had a
marked influence, although there have been attempts to develop a modern Irish
style, as for instance with the church designs created by Liam McCormick. An
excellent example of his work is the church of St Aengus in Burt, County Done-
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