In 1975, Oliver Plunkett was canonised as a saint. He was the first Irishman in over 700 years to receive the honour. He was made a patron saint for peace and reconciliation in Ireland in 1997.
There were 17 more Irish martyrs beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1992.
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Dracula is written as a series of documents – letters, diary entries, and ships’ log entries. The settings are England and Transylvania during 1893.
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St Patrick’s jawbone was preserved in a silver shine. Women often requested it during childbirth. It was also used to help people who suffered epileptic fits and would protect them from the ‘evil eye’.
Louis Henry Sullivan, born 3 September 1856, was an American architect. He is considered the “’father of skyscrapers’ – he was the creator of the modern skyscraper. He was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and influenced the Chicago group of architects (Prairie School).
Sullivan, Henry Hobson Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright are “the recognized trinity of American architecture”.
“Form follows function” is one of the fundamental beliefs of modern architects. It comes from a poem Louis Sullivan wrote in In 1896;
It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic,
Of all things physical and metaphysical,
Of all things human, and all things super-human,
Of all true manifestations of the head,
Of the heart, of the soul,
That the life is recognizable in its expression,
That form ever follows function. This is the law.
A mummy was put on display in Belfast in 1824 and is still there today. It was the first time a mummy had been publicly displayed outside Egypt.
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In medieval Ireland it was thought that having breakfast by candlelight on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day would bring you luck.
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Dublin got its name from two Irish words, ‘Dubh’ and ‘Linn’ meaning Black Pool. The pool it refers to is now part of Dublin Zoo and is the centre piece of the penguin enclosure. It is the oldest known pool in Northern Europe.
A rich man’s money can be described as ‘flúirseach’ (pronounced Flu-shirk) which literally means ‘profusely’ in Irish, although where money is concerned it has come to mean ‘plentiful’.
All images copyright Ireland Calling (unless stated on photo)
