Dublinmyirelandactivitybook

This Activity Book belongs to...

TO BOTANIC GARDENS

TO GLASNEVIN CEMETERY

Hi, I’m Florrie the Urban Fox! Come with me and my friend Harald the Viking and we’ll explore the fascinating city of Dublin.

TO HOWTH

TO ZOO THE GPO LEPRECHAUN MUSEUM

TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLINIA

NATIONAL GALLERY CHRISTCHURCH

DUBLIN CASTLE

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

ST STEPHEN’S GREEN

TO WICKLOW

1

My Holiday

THE DUBLIN SP

IRE

DATE: WHO I WAS WITH:

PLACES WE VISITED:

FOOD WE ATE:

WEATHER:

MY FAVOURITE PLACE SO FAR IN DUBLIN:

BEST PART OF MY VISIT:

Draw a Picture Here!

WHERE I WOULD LIKE TO GO NEXT:

2

Dublin’s Fair City People have lived where the River Liffey meets Dublin Bay since prehistoric times.

But it was in the tenth century that the Viking settlement which would eventually become the city of Dublin was first formed. Today Dublin is the capital of Ireland and its biggest city, home to nearly two million people.

Colour in this picture of a family visiting St Stephen’s Green.

What’s in a name?

St Stephen’s Green St Stephen’s Green is a beautiful green space in the heart of Dublin, with a lake, flower gardens, a Victorian bandstand and a great playground. Dotted around the park are lots of monuments to important people in Irish history.

In the past many famous writers lived on or near St Stephen’s Green, including Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula.

During the Easter Rising in 1916, when there was a lot of fighting around St Stephen’s Green, there was a ceasefire every day to allow the park-keeper to feed the ducks!

3

The name Dublin comes from the Irish words ‘Dubh Linn’ meaning black pool.

This black pool was on the site of the gardens behind Dublin Castle, and it is now underground.

The Natural History Museum The Natural History Museum is known to generations of Dubliners as the Dead Zoo. Here you can see a huge variety of stuffed animals and skeletons from all over the world.

There are over two million specimens, about half of which are insects. The ground floor is devoted to Irish wildlife, with badgers, foxes, bats and seals, as well as a wide range of butterflies and other insects. You can also see three skeletons of the extinct giant deer known as the ‘Irish elk’, which are 10,000 years old.

10

11

13

12

14 9

15

18

8

17

16

19 7 20

Join the Dots

6

Join the dots to reveal one of the most popular exhibits at the Dead Zoo, then colour it in.

21 5 22

4

3

23

PSSST! Don’t forget to colour in Spotticus’ spots!

2

THE SKELETON OF A GREAT IRISH ELK

START

Upstairs is the museum’s collection from the rest of the world, including a panda, a grizzly bear, rhinoceroses, bison, kangaroos and Tasmanian devils.

1

24

66 25

65

64 43 44

61

33

42

26

63 62

60

45

27

53

41

54 56

51

40

48

32

29

36 37

55

57 58

47

28 35

46 52 59

34

31

49 38

50

30

39

WHALE SKELETONS

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, DUBLIN

4

The National Gallery The National Gallery houses Ireland’s national collection of Irish and European art. It includes paintings by Irish artists like Jack B. Yeats, Paul Henry, Sarah Purser and John Lavery, as well as Picasso, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Monet and Caravaggio.

The Yeats Collection Jack B. Yeats was the most important Irish artist of the twentieth century. He started work as an artist by making comic strips and drawing illustrations for magazines. He also designed theatre sets. But it was as a painter that he became famous, with his colourful, expressive paintings of the Irish countryside, horses, circuses and country people.

In 1924 Jack B. Yeats won an Olympic silver medal for his painting The Liffey Swim. (Art competitions were part of the Olympics between 1912 and 1948.)

He was the first person to win an Olympic medal for Ireland after independence – before this, medals won by Irish people were recorded as wins for the United Kingdom.

JACK B. YEATS

Colour in your own Liffey Swim.

You can see lots of his paintings in the National Gallery, along with paintings by his father John and lots of other members of the Yeats family.

Ireland’s Favourite The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton, one of the best-known paintings in the National Gallery, was voted Ireland’s favourite painting in 2012.

Who would you like to meet on the stairs? Draw your own version.

5

The National Museum There is so much to discover at the National Museum of Ireland. Kildare Street houses the Archaeology branch, where you can see precious gold jewellery from the Bronze Age, a 15-metre-long, 4,000-year-old canoe made from a hollowed-out oak trunk, Iron Age bog bodies, weapons and tools used by Vikings, and much more.

Can you match the artefact to the right era?

VIKING IRELAND

BRONZE AGE ANCIENT EGYPT

EARLY CHRISTIAN IRELAND

The Ardagh Chalice

THE ARDAGH CH

ALICE

One of Ireland’s greatest treasures, the Ardagh Chalice is an eighth-century silver chalice which would have been used during Mass. It was found in 1868 by a boy digging up potatoes. The famous Sam Maguire Cup, which counties compete for each year in the All-Ireland Football Championship, is modelled on the Ardagh Chalice.

6

THE SAM MAG

UIRE CUP

Trinity and the Book of Kells Trinity College Dublin is Ireland’s oldest university, established in 1592. Lots of visitors come to see its beautiful buildings, the Campanile in Front Square and the Book of Kells.

Colour in this illustration from the Book of Kells.

The Book of Kells The Book of Kells is the most famous medieval manuscript in the world, written

by Irish monks around A.D. 800. It is a manuscript of the four Gospels and was written by hand in calligraphy, illuminated by intricate designs and illustrations. The whole book is written on vellum (calf skin).

Each section starts with an ornate capital letter shaped like a person, animal, plant or flower.

Every year, over half a million people visit the Book of Kells. Once a day, the librarian turns over a new page – so you would have to visit every day for 340 days to see the whole thing!

THE CAMPANILE

, TRINIT Y COLL

EGE

Trinity’s Fox Family The Provost, or head of the college, has his own house within the grounds of Trinity. A family of foxes have made their den in the Provost’s garden, and can sometimes be seen walking down Grafton Street at night, looking for food that people have thrown away. Burgers are their favourite!

7