Of course, first and foremost, the star attraction here will always be the Casino which was designed by Sir William Chambers in the late eighteenth-century as a neoclassical pleasure house for James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont. Ceres and Bacchus hold dominion from the roof above four Egyptian lions, winged satyrs, ox skulls and mysterious twin-tailed merfolk perched on the roof’s two urns. Take in one of their daily tours at 10am, 12am, 2pm and 4pm (until the end of October) and learn about the intricacies of the building such as the fasces moulding of a bundle of rods with an axe which we discovered is where the word fascism derives from. (thanks Robert)
Within the building you will find 41 works owned by either the OPW or Department of Finance which are themed around people within the deceptively large number of rooms. There’s Becks Butler’s ‘Loopies Field’ series which we featured In the Frame in 2020. Christopher Banahan’s ‘Lizzie in Interior’ sits atop a walnut cabinet in the China Closet framed by hand-painted Chinese wallpaper (lead photo). Amanda Doran’s ‘Beast Mode’, Garry Loughlin’s ‘Evdokia’ and Mónika Bögyös ‘Untitled’ caught our attention whether seen beside gold painted Ionic fluted (grooved) columns or with Apollo’s head emerging from a sunburst in the ceiling. As you do.
