To squeeze about <a href="/blog/Facilitators">300,000 years of Dublin's history into exactly 29 minutes</a>, one has to be a little bit cheeky - to start the presentation with “Fortunately, nothing much happened in Dublin for the first 299,000 years. It was just cold and gloomy there” - and quite creative. Creativity is needed to identify the key developments of the remaining millennium and to rearrange them so as to form a coherent, free-flowing story presented with energy, and laced with humour. “… By 1988 the economy was down, the crime rate and unemployment soared, drugs became quite popular - obviously, Dublin desperately needed some reason to celebrate. As Cork had just marked its 800th anniversary, Dublin City Council decided to follow suit. It was lucky that nobody knew when exactly the city had actually been founded, so why not presume it happened in 988?! The plan worked like a charm - the celebrations were wild, and the city as a whole significantly cheered up…”&nbsp;Packed with fun facts and shrewd observations, the 29-minutes long artistic presentation is just one (even if the main one) course of the menu offered by the Little Museum of Dublin, whose very name implies that it must have perfected the Fine Art of Squeezing necessary to exhibit a variety of objects in but little space. Indeed, only a few museum rooms suffice to touch on an array of city-related topics, such as architecture, transportation, mass-media, animal life - let alone a whole room devoted to a Dublin phenomenon collectively known as U-2 (the “U 2, Made in Dublin” exhibition). The following pictures help to understand how one poster can tell the story of buses in Dublin<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679087988/7kwonders/DSCF_8890_3d2bea1ac1.jpg" alt="DSCF8890.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679087988/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_8890_3d2bea1ac1.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679087988/7kwonders/small_DSCF_8890_3d2bea1ac1.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679087988/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_8890_3d2bea1ac1.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679087988/7kwonders/large_DSCF_8890_3d2bea1ac1.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">or how a snapshot can emphasize what it takes to run a successful newspaper business.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679089105/7kwonders/DSCF_8906_1a1fb8736c.jpg" alt="DSCF8906.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679089105/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_8906_1a1fb8736c.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679089105/7kwonders/small_DSCF_8906_1a1fb8736c.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679089105/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_8906_1a1fb8736c.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679089105/7kwonders/large_DSCF_8906_1a1fb8736c.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">While good stories are consistent, great ones often have a reversal - and so does the story of the Little Museum located next to a big public park known in Dublin as Stephen Green. The Museum, that master-squeezer, must have been particularly delighted to temporarily reverse its course by creating a tour called “The Big Little Treasure Hunt”. The tour is essentially a game happening in and around the park, and it epitomizes the Museum's unofficial motto “Learning Through Fun”.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679090986/7kwonders/DSCF_8934_98fb9e31b4.jpg" alt="DSCF8934.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679090985/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_8934_98fb9e31b4.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679090986/7kwonders/small_DSCF_8934_98fb9e31b4.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679090986/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_8934_98fb9e31b4.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1679090986/7kwonders/large_DSCF_8934_98fb9e31b4.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">

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The Art Of Squeezing

High Kings ruled over Ireland for a while after Palladius, followed by St. Patrick, had brought Christianity into the country in the middle of the 5th century AD - that's why <a href="/blog/resisting-the-wind-of-change">some structures on Tara</a> combine the Christian cross with pagan symbols, such as the circle. King John's forces landed in Ireland in 1172 - to ensure the presence of the English for the next 750 years. The gap in-between had been filled by the third major force leaving an indelible mark on Irish history and identity - the Vikings who considered themselves “made by the North wind”.Arguably, the Norsemen are one of the most fascinating and controversial phenomenon in Medieval History. Ruthless and fearsome raiders whose killing, raping and pillaging spread terror all over Medieval Europe, they might have shared the sentiment expressed by one of the characters of the “Westside Story” musical. Facing arrest, that character is trying to convince a police officer to let him and his friends go - so, he claims that “…we ain't no delinquents, we are misunderstood. Deep down inside us there is good!” The Vikings could also claim “being good” - and rest their case, too. To start with, they were indomitable explorers - and it was Erik the Red who discovered Greenland, while his son, Leif Eriksson, happened to be the first European to land in North America, long before Columbus did. As for raiding, killing and such, the Vikings were just peaceful farmers who spent their summers toiling in the fields. It was only in winters, when there was nothing else to do in that terribly cold weather, that they would travel around a bit. After all, all they needed was a little warmth, a little love…and a little wealth - so, they used their time away from home to find all three, and find a new home, at that. Quite surprisingly, this seemingly “humorous only” argument isn't completely devoid of truth. Notwithstanding all the bloodshed, they did settle down in many countries they had just raided - and once they did, they would indeed become peaceful farmers and, often, good neighbours contributing to the local society. For instance, England owes them a big segment of its language, and Ireland - its current capital.In 795 a raiding party found itself at a point where two rivers met and created a tidal pool. The churning water looked black - so, the party leader called the place “black pool”, or “dubh lynn”. It took the Vikings 46 years to stop coming back and forth, and create a permanent settlement. When they did, they remembered the name… Over time, the settlement grew enough to develop into the Kingdom of Dublin, and its inhabitants put down enough roots through trade and intermarriages to become Norse-Gaels. When in 1014 the warriors of the Kingdom faced the High King Brian Boru at the <a href="/blog/the-irish-gandhi">Battle of Clontarf</a>, both Norsemen and Gaels could be found in numbers in both armies. The amalgamation of two people into one nation was essentially completed. The process wasn't necessarily peaceful but it seemed to have left few hard feelings - and a lot of interest in the Viking culture instead. Centuries later that interest resulted in the creation of a unique thematic museum called “Dublinia”. Three floors of exhibits shedding light on the Medieval Dublin - its crafts, health system, public and private life. In a way, the latter topic provides the most concise and, at the same time, comprehensive picture of the Viking transformation - a reconstruction of a room in a family house belonging to a Norseman and a Gaelic woman<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1678491952/7kwonders/DSCF_0460_4366921fe6.jpg" alt="DSCF0460.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1678491951/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_0460_4366921fe6.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1678491952/7kwonders/small_DSCF_0460_4366921fe6.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1678491952/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_0460_4366921fe6.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1678491952/7kwonders/large_DSCF_0460_4366921fe6.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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Children Of The North Wind

Unlike <a href="/blog/Facilitators">Barak Obama</a>, Scarlett O'Hara never lost the apostrophe - so, she didn't have to go to Ireland to search for it. While she might have never been to the land of her ancestors, Scarlett was connected to it in more than one way. Most obviously, through her own family name, but also through the name of her estate, Tara. One might argue that Tara - a short, ear-pleasing word that naturally lends itself to the list of girls names - is much more than just a piece of land. Rather it's the third main protagonist (even if a silent one) of the iconic novel “Gone With The Wind”. After all, there are multiple quotes scattered throughout the novel, all of them reinforcing the same message: “The land never changes. The land never betrays but stays with you even if everything else is ”gone with the wind". Scarlett proves the point by returning to Tara after the rest of her world has fallen apart.When it comes to colonists - be they adventure-seekers or forced immigrants - names of their estates, cities or even whole states and countries are often given for sentimental reasons. Some people would emphasize the connection between their past and current locations by using “New” as a part of the name, thus creating “New York”, "New Orleans", “New England”, or “New Zealand”. Others preferred to pretend they were still living in their old homes in Paris, Dublin or, say, Florence (but, at the same time, in Texas, California and Alabama respectively) and such. O'Hara family must have fallen into the latter category, and their estate happened to preserve not only the name but also the personality of the old place.I said “place” rather than “city”, “town” or “village” because Irish Tara is neither of those. Its full name is “The Hill of Tara”, and it's indeed a hill in the middle of almost nowhere. It might be for that reason that it had in the ancient past been chosen as a ceremonial and burial site doubling up as the inauguration place and the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. Completely open to the elements, Tara - unlike people visiting it on a windy, rainy day, and having their umbrellas wrenched out of their hands - had for many centuries successfully resisted both physical winds and winds of change, whichever direction they blew from. It managed to preserve the spirit of the old times, even as it has been partially incorporating the changes brought by newer ones. Below is a stunning, both in its simplicity and creativity, example of such incorporation<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677904552/7kwonders/DSCF_8946_5e87a3a977.jpg" alt="DSCF8946.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677904551/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_8946_5e87a3a977.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677904552/7kwonders/small_DSCF_8946_5e87a3a977.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677904552/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_8946_5e87a3a977.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677904552/7kwonders/large_DSCF_8946_5e87a3a977.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">While there is a church and a graveyard on the hill, the heart and soul of Tara is its numerous monuments, among them the famous throughout Ireland “Lia Fail” - the “Stone of Destiny” - that would “roar in joy when the rightful High King of Ireland put his feet on it”.&nbsp;<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677886216/7kwonders/DSCF_8947_5348812439.jpg" alt="DSCF8947.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677886216/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_8947_5348812439.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677886216/7kwonders/small_DSCF_8947_5348812439.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677886216/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_8947_5348812439.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1677886217/7kwonders/large_DSCF_8947_5348812439.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">That and similar monuments would invest the Kings with great powers but also with heavy responsibilities. The Kings were expected to go any length to protect and provide for their people - and failing in their sacred duties (such as, for instance, bringing in sufficient amounts of rain to provide for an ample harvest) would often result in forfeiting their lives as well…Such has the aura and significance of the Hill of Tara been throughout Irish history that when “the unofficial King of Ireland” <a href="/blog/the-irish-gandhi">Daniel O'Connell</a> called for a peaceful political demonstration in 1843, 750, 000 people answered his call.

7000 Wonders

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