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;

large_DSCF0420 (2).JPG

medium_DSCF0420 (2).JPG

small_DSCF0420 (2).JPG

thumbnail_DSCF0420 (2).JPG

DSCF0420 (2).JPG

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.

large_DSCF8945.JPG

medium_DSCF8945.JPG

small_DSCF8945.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF8945.JPG

DSCF8945.JPG

Resisting The Wind Of Change

For our contemporaries, the Pyramids of Giza is a completely unique remnant of the Ancient World, otherwise irretrievably lost. Obviously, the Antiquity must have promoted the Pyramids to the status of “wonder” for altogether different reasons. Judging by the list of the Original Seven, ancient people would set store by size, functionality or, ideally, a combination of the two. In some cases, the practical (the Lighthouse of Alexandria) or spiritual (the Statue of Zeus in Olympia or the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus) importance of the Wonder is immediately obvious. In others, the names themselves - such as The Colossus of Rhodes - are quite telling. &nbsp;When necessary, descriptions fill in the blanks: the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus is 45 meters in height, and it's adorned with 400 freestanding sculptures. Finally, imagination makes up for whatever the name or description might be lacking as it seems to be the case with the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.The Pyramids, like the Mausoleum, are huge - and they served an essentially identical purpose. While the Mausoleum was built for (and named after) a 4th century BC local king called Mausolus, the word itself morphed to take on a new meaning, that of “any above-ground tomb”. That's exactly what the Pyramids were built for - to become tombs for Egyptian Pharaohs, the most powerful rulers of their time. Hence the significance and the resulting grandeur of those structures whose size and appearance had to match the lofty status of their residents. Any discrepancy in that respect would inevitably affect the quality of the rulers' afterlife - or so the subjects of the Pharaohs believed. &nbsp;&nbsp;The belief in question wasn't restricted to Egypt or any particular geographical region. Left at Nature's mercy and facing the horrors of the Unknown, all primeval societies would scramble to cope with such major mysteries as birth and death (not to mention some “lesser” challenges - the elements, various diseases and such). One of the major strategies of coping was reducing the unfathomable to something more or less familiar. The main product of that reduction was the myths of Afterlife - and all the places it could be spent in, such as the Gardens of Eden, the Realm of Hades, and their various equivalents in other cultures. Accordingly, numerous burial rituals were created by pre-scientific cultures to provide the deceased with everything necessary for a smooth transition. One of such cultures found its way to what's known in Ireland as “the Ancient East”.Located in Boyne Valley, the “Irish Pyramids” - including Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth - are attributed to nomadic people that traveled 5000+ kilometers from halfway across the world before reaching the region in question. They seem to have been a nation of &nbsp;farmers that managed to not only develop building skills but also advance astronomical knowledge - so, when they finally settled down, they took their time (several generations or so) to create something truly outstanding. The structures they built were aligned with the movement of celestial bodies - and that resulted in what's known as “The Winter Solstice Effect” when a sunray travels through a tiny hole in the roof (the so-called “roof box”) and illuminates the otherwise utterly dark chamber for several minutes. That happens every year, on 5 days in a row (December 19-23), and the "show" starts at 8.58 in the morning. That almost supernatural precision alone shows the scope and magnitude of the “Irish Pyramids” wonder…&nbsp;

large_DSCF8992.JPG

medium_DSCF8992.JPG

small_DSCF8992.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF8992.JPG

DSCF8992.JPG

Irish Pyramids

While having covered almost 80 wonders, I have so far stayed away from the Original Seven. It was a conscious choice, as this blog's mandate is to do justice to less known and often underappreciated wonders rather than promote the already famous ones. However, time has come to pay indirect tribute to the only extant - and therefore, most famous - Wonder of the Ancient World, the Pyramids. It's not a coincidence that the words “time” and “Pyramids” met in the same sentence - the relationship between the two concepts has been extremely long and very complex, as explained by the following saying: “Everything is afraid of Time but even Time itself is afraid of the Pyramids!” The word “afraid” clearly indicates that Time is mostly perceived as a hostile force, one to conquer or be conquered by. While that's definitely the case for any living creature or almost any individual object, there is one particular category that completely reverses the trend: Time turns into a friend and an ally when it comes to institutions steeped in tradition, such as Trinity College in Dublin.There is an opinion ascribed to an anonymous gardener: “It's very easy to create a perfect English Garden. All you have to do is to plant grass and then cut it regularly…for about 300 years!” It turns out that a similar approach can apply to an educational institution. Trinity must have looked somewhat different back in 1592 when it was founded - less buildings and hardly any playgrounds or parking lots (students would arrive on foot or in a horse carriage rather than by bus or in a private car) - but its essence has mostly remained the same over those four centuries. Classes and labs filled with students, professors in mantles, cases of exam fever, and wild celebrations following graduations and newly obtained degrees. Changes were few and really far between, the most important of them arguably being granting admission to women in 1904 - a breakthrough not easy to achieve in a conservative society. There was a lot of opposition, and it was led by none other than the then Provost of the College, George Salmon who vowed that “women will study in this College over my dead body!” A famous mathematician and theologian, Salmon lived 84 years and died in his office on January 22, 1904 - the very day the first group of women was writing their entrance exam in an adjacent building. It goes without saying that female students were quite impressed by Salmon's power of prediction - years later, some of them showed their appreciation by dancing in front of his statue and decorating it with a pink scarf… &nbsp;<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1676679503/7kwonders/DSCF_9202_d0c9f08654.jpg" alt="DSCF9202.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1676679503/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_9202_d0c9f08654.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1676679503/7kwonders/small_DSCF_9202_d0c9f08654.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1676679503/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_9202_d0c9f08654.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1676679503/7kwonders/large_DSCF_9202_d0c9f08654.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">As professors continued to teach, and students continued to learn and graduate, Time kept doing one and only positive thing it can do really well - namely, building Trinity's reputation. &nbsp;Several centuries later that work was complete. When the famous <a href="/blog/a-talking-painting">Book of Kells</a> was rescued from a peat bog, it was entrusted in Trinity's care. When the University Philosophical Society founded in 1863 decided to invite a celebrity, it would be in a position to pick and choose, in most cases. It did take some time to convince Bono to appear but, for instance, President Biden was happy to oblige…

large_DSCF9232.JPG

medium_DSCF9232.JPG

small_DSCF9232.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF9232.JPG

DSCF9232.JPG

Taming Time

It is quite symbolic that a House of Books (<a href="/blog/back-to-the-future">Marsh Library</a>) happens to be one of the most remarkable features of the Land of Storytellers (Ireland). It is even more fitting that this Land's arguably most famous object is a book. To be precise, I probably should call it The Book - because this version of the Bible (the actual content of the book is Four Gospels), known as the Book of Kells, has over centuries become synonymous with Ireland itself.The Book is traditionally described as an “illustrated manuscript” but this description seems to bely its uniqueness. There are millions of copies of the Bible, and many of them are manuscripts. At least some of those manuscripts are illustrated in one way or another but the illustrations are what in the world of movies is called the “supporting cast”. The main "protagonist" featured by the manuscripts in question is still the “Word of God”. The Book of Kells essentially reverses the roles as its emphasis isn't really on the Word as such but rather on the way it gets delivered. It's tempting to say that every word, if not every letter, in the Book is a miniature picture - an exaggeration as such a statement may be, it emphasizes one's intuitive perception that the Book's images somehow transformed themselves into words, thus acquiring distinct and unequivocal meanings while keeping all their external beauty.&nbsp;The key component of that beauty is the material the pages are made of - vellum. Combined with a lichen-based dye, it produces warm colours giving off soft golden light. Add to it meticulously drawn letters and intricate patterns so firmly associated with the Book that they became its trademark - and here is the recipe for the phenomenon the above picture gives some vague idea of. Unfortunately, in case of the Book of Kells, imagination has to be heavily relied upon, because the actual book is protected by a glass case, and glass is a perfect spoil sport when it comes to nuanced qualities of light…

large_DSCF9236.JPG

medium_DSCF9236.JPG

small_DSCF9236.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF9236.JPG

DSCF9236.JPG

A Talking Painting

As time passes, many old practices fade into oblivion. Nowadays, nobody travels by horse, hardly anybody sends handwritten letters (unless they are Christmas cards), and those using cash are probably already in the minority. It's quite possible that home-phone owners are about to become a minority, too… As time passes, many old structures disappear - or undergo a significant facelift, including a change of function. Castles (and even some palaces) become museums, private businesses, such as stores, banks or even theatres, move to a different area, or open under a new name in a completely restored building. While quite a few private homes must have remained in possession of the same family for generations, stumbling upon a public building that hasn't changed either its location or its function for centuries, is about as likely as running into a dinosaur. When I found myself in front of the house in the above picture, I realized that the experience was about as hair-raising, too. Marsh Library turned out to be a welcoming, quiet, cozy place - a great one to spend an hour or so on a rainy afternoon. It could be called “inconspicuous”, too - but for the fact that it's the first public library in Ireland, and by far the oldest one, because it opened in 1707 and has functioned as a library ever since!Among many wonders covered by this blog, there are groundbreaking ideas, remarkable places, unique and…well, wonderful people. And yet, it's that elegant and quiet house in the heart of Dublin that, arguably, comes the closest to the visceral meaning of “wonder” - that Hogwarts- or the nine-and-three-quarters platform-like mystery when you look at something that just can't exist because it somehow contradicts every law of Nature we know about. However, it's right there, in front of you…Those who might expect to plunge into mystery the moment they cross the threshold, will be disappointed. There are no dragons inside, and the only dungeon looks suspiciously like a regular basement. The staff doesn't wear mantles, either - rather, the librarians are modern people well versed in modern technology (Marsh is quite active on social media). Even the furniture doesn't look that medieval - until you are told that Jonathan Swift was sitting in that very chair when he wrote his harsh, devastating comment about a particular book in the margins of that very book. It took some convincing before the librarian agreed to bring the book in question from the vaults for a brief inspection. Usually, such viewing is done by appointment, and the worst imaginable crime visitors might commit is to touch the book in front of them - or any book on the shelves. And there are quite a few of those books.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476692/7kwonders/DSCF_0643_6974c59a94.jpg" alt="DSCF0643.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476691/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_0643_6974c59a94.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476692/7kwonders/small_DSCF_0643_6974c59a94.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476692/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_0643_6974c59a94.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476692/7kwonders/large_DSCF_0643_6974c59a94.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">Medieval guests were allowed to touch books - it would be difficult to read them otherwise! - but not to take them away. Just to ensure everybody would comply, the readers were accommodated in a…cage<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476942/7kwonders/DSCF_0665_bc317e5dc1.jpg" alt="DSCF0665.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476942/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_0665_bc317e5dc1.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476942/7kwonders/small_DSCF_0665_bc317e5dc1.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476942/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_0665_bc317e5dc1.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1675476942/7kwonders/large_DSCF_0665_bc317e5dc1.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">It's frozen images like that medieval cage or Swift's 300+ years-old comment presented in the 21st century, that help to both emphasize Marsh's uniqueness, and to gradually reconcile one's mind with its mystery.

large_DSCF0634.JPG

medium_DSCF0634.JPG

small_DSCF0634.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF0634.JPG

DSCF0634.JPG

Back To The Future

…is a difficult matter - if you trust T.S. Eliot, that is. Naming castles seems to be much easier, as most of them are named after the area (for instance, Blarney Castle is located in the village of Blarney). That principle produced a lot of alliteration in the Loire Valley, where quite a few town names start with “ch” - and all of them have a castle! Considering that the French word for “castle” is “chateau”, a rather unique “ch” song echoes throughout the area - Chateau de Chambord, Chateau de Chaumont, Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Chantilly… Occasional castles bear the names of their hereditary owners or the architects who built them - Baynard's Castle in London would be one such prominent example. A castle named after someone who never lived there or even visited would be an oddity - Ireland, of all places, can boast such a wonderful oddity.King John ordered a castle to be built in Limerick because of the strategic importance of the Shannon river. Wikipedia advises that “…the castle…was built to protect the city from the Gaelic kingdoms to the West and from any rebellion by Norman lords to the East and South”. In other words, that particular castle served to command the area rather than provide safety for its inhabitants. It was a military outpost, not a home - there might have been some “captains' rooms” there but hardly any “young ladies'” ones! Almost five centuries later the castle played its part in the crucial War of Two Kings, as it became one of the main strongholds of Jacobite forces resisting the multinational army led by James' son-in-law William of Orange (among other things, the outcome of the war determined that Ireland would remain under firm English control for additional 200+ years). Fast forward several centuries, and King John's castle faced the same challenges as its counterparts in Blarney, Bunratty and other places: how to remain historical without becoming history. Built on an island, it could hardly find space for a <a href="/blog/a-walk-in-the-park">folk park</a> or an <a href="/blog/an-enchanted-forest">enchanted forest</a> - and modern technology combined with medieval authenticity came to rescue instead.The nature of warfare might have changed dramatically over time but medieval soldiers needed to practice, just like modern ones do. So, the castle had a large training area where soldiers would use swords, shields and helmets, bows and arrows. Human nature never changes, and every now and then medieval humans needed to unwind, just like their grand-grand-grand-sons do - and part of the training area would be temporarily converted into a playground where servicemen played hopscotch, tug-of-war or board games. Much of the equipment is still there waiting for the visitors to try their hand at.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674887190/7kwonders/DSCF_9625_f16d8736f3.jpg" alt="DSCF9625.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674887190/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_9625_f16d8736f3.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674887190/7kwonders/small_DSCF_9625_f16d8736f3.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674887190/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_9625_f16d8736f3.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674887190/7kwonders/large_DSCF_9625_f16d8736f3.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">Even before trying their hands at various medieval activities, castle visitors are encouraged to lay those hands on interactive touch-screens, quite literally. When they do, history comes… well, not exactly alive but very much animated, and in more ways than one. For instance, a very lively - and obviously proud of his status and skills - master-builder offers a three-minutes' lecture on how masons should claim their daily earnings by leaving their personal “signature” (usually, it would be a picture of the tool associated with that particular mason) on every stone they cut and placed during that day…&nbsp;

large_DSCF9627.JPG

medium_DSCF9627.JPG

small_DSCF9627.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF9627.JPG

DSCF9627.JPG

The Naming Of Cats

The word “castle” quickens the pulse of history buffs and hopeless romantics. For the former, it's where most of the medieval elite lived, where crucial battles were fought, important decisions and, eventually, history itself were made. For the latter, it's where knights (some of them in shining armor) were courting and occasionally saving damsels (many of them in distress); where young heroes kept their faith even in - and found their way out of - dungeons, as Sir Walter Scott would keep reminding everybody who was willing to listen/read… In reality, castles weren't built to provide writers with attractive settings, or to let architects exercise their creativity and sense of aesthetics - but rather to protect the inhabitants from belligerent neighbours and roaming gangs. In other words, castles started as regular abodes erected with safety in mind, first and foremost. Hence moats, narrow and winding staircases, dungeons for unwelcome guests, and similar features. While safety came first, comfort and privacy came fourth, firth and sixth - if at all. Consequently, castles could be cold (unless very close to an open fire) and rather gloomy (apart from those occasions when multiple torches would serve big gatherings) - not always much to write home about. That's why, as time passed, and safety gradually became less of an issue, many castle owners preferred to move to more comfortable homes - and try to turn their castles into tourist attractions. Since not every castle can claim a legendary <a href="/blog/the-gift-of-gab">stone</a>, attracting tourists proved to be not exactly a walk in the park. To meet the challenge, the owners of Bunratty Castle decided to create another magnet by building a…park. To be precise, a Folk Park.<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674269125/7kwonders/DSCF_9680_eff90ec2dd.jpg" alt="DSCF9680.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674269125/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_9680_eff90ec2dd.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674269125/7kwonders/small_DSCF_9680_eff90ec2dd.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674269125/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_9680_eff90ec2dd.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674269125/7kwonders/large_DSCF_9680_eff90ec2dd.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">“Folk Park” is another name for “<a href="/blog/sainte-marie-among-the-hurons">Open-Air Museum</a>”. This concept first appeared towards the end of the 19th century, and it quickly spread over Northern Europe, eventually reaching all over the continent and even across the Atlantic. The idea of such a museum is to preserve historical buildings from all over the country and transfer them to a particular location where they would recreate a village typical of a certain age - or to build exact copies of such buildings on an actual historical site. Bunratty Folk Park is of the former type, and it has an added value of being attached to an actual historical castle. It's the combination of the two that makes Bunratty unique. There are 32 structures scattered throughout the Park, 12 of them - a pub, a post-office, a grocery store, and such - forming the Village Street.&nbsp;<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674272270/7kwonders/DSCF_9817_8d0c1ba386.jpg" alt="DSCF9817.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674272270/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_9817_8d0c1ba386.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674272270/7kwonders/small_DSCF_9817_8d0c1ba386.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674272270/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_9817_8d0c1ba386.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1674272270/7kwonders/large_DSCF_9817_8d0c1ba386.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">All the street buildings are fully functional, and that helps to boost the Castle&amp;Park's revenue - as do Bunratty Medieval Banquets. For the merely exorbitant price of 165 Euro, visitors can sate their hunger and quench their thirst in the authentic banquet hall, while using authentic medieval cutlery and being served by waiters in authentic medieval attire. Kitschy as such an experience might feel, Bunratty's blend of business acumen and historicism is genuinely remarkable&nbsp;

large_DSCF9811.JPG

medium_DSCF9811.JPG

small_DSCF9811.JPG

thumbnail_DSCF9811.JPG

DSCF9811.JPG

A Walk In The Park

Blarney is by far the most famous of about 30,000 Irish castles - and it owes its fame to the legendary stone, “legendary” being a matter of fact rather than a flattering description. Legends, discussing the origins of the Blarney Stone, range from “a stone used as a pillow by Jacob when he dreamt about the Ladder” to “a ”thank you" gift by a Scottish king to the then current owner of the castle who had allegedly sent his troops to assist the king in a crucial battle" - with all kind of mythology in-between. While <a href="/blog/rhyme-in-its-prime">no mere fact should stand in a way of a great story</a> (and legends ARE great stories, first and foremost), facts do exist, and it might be worth checking them every now and then, just in case. As it happens, mineralogical analysis indicated that the Blarney Stone must have come from just to the south of the castle, while some archive pictures and drawings suggested that the stone had been absent from its current location until, at least, 1888. Considering all that, as well as the inevitable presence of cleaners (touching something previously touched by thousands of other people is not exactly hygienic), and the much more annoying, while objectively much less inevitable, presence of commercial photographers right next to the stone, the stone-kissing adventure might not necessarily be the focal point of just about everybody's visit to Blarney, after all. &nbsp;Visitors to Blarney have quite a menu to choose from. The castle itself, partially rebuild, still looks and feels very medieval, with all its battlements, dungeons and even a Murder Hole - an opening in the floor meant to allow castle defenders to greet unwelcome guests with boiling liquids, arrows, stones (others than the Blarney One!), and similar presents. When more peaceful times came, the hole was covered with a grating - to prevent absent-minded tourists from falling through it, thus justifying its name in a creative new way. Some other names, such as “Earl's Bedroom” or “Young Ladies' Room” are more domestic-sounding but the rooms themselves still look way less cozy than their names imply<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673651128/7kwonders/7_d39336f42d.webp" alt="7.webp" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673651128/7kwonders/thumbnail_7_d39336f42d.webp 245w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673651128/7kwonders/small_7_d39336f42d.webp 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673651128/7kwonders/medium_7_d39336f42d.webp 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673651128/7kwonders/large_7_d39336f42d.webp 1000w," sizes="100vw">Irish fascination with names (and Nature!) continues outside as the castle grounds are full with such "charming" names as “Carnivorous Courtyard” and "Poison Garden" (to be fair, the truly cute-sounding “Arboretum” should be mentioned, too). The latter, its grim aura notwithstanding, is an important educational project, as the Garden features a variety of poisonous plants, each of them carefully explained and classified… One might wander around the Blarney grounds for quite a while until stumbling upon their westmost part marked on the map as “Rock Close”, and passing through its invisible borders. Then time stops…On the map, Rock Close does seem to cover a significant part of the premises but it doesn't feel too sizeable - a small park, if not even a big garden. Meandering paths occasionally blocked by logs, humming brooks spanned by toy-like bridges, gnarled trees looking like sentries guarding a troll camp,<img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673663405/7kwonders/DSCF_0050_40001ee333.jpg" alt="DSCF0050.JPG" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673663405/7kwonders/thumbnail_DSCF_0050_40001ee333.jpg 208w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673663405/7kwonders/small_DSCF_0050_40001ee333.jpg 500w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673663405/7kwonders/medium_DSCF_0050_40001ee333.jpg 750w,https://res.cloudinary.com/dpwp8vga3/image/upload/v1673663405/7kwonders/large_DSCF_0050_40001ee333.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw">and 14 story-telling stops - the heart and soul of the area turning a garden/park into an Enchanted Forest. &nbsp;The word “enchanted” implies fairy tales full of magical creatures - witches, druids, fairies themselves (or else WHO would tell the tale and grant the listeners' wishes?!) - and so there is Witches' Kitchen and Witches' Stone, Druids' Circle and Druids' Cave, and Fairy Glade to boot. Among other stops one would find the above-mentioned Sentry Post, as well as Waterfall, Sacrificial Altar and Forest Trail... So boosted by delightful sights and sounds, one's imagination runs rampant and turns a castle visit into an almost Disney-like adventure. &nbsp;&nbsp;

From the Blog