History comes alive at St Patrick’s Cathedral

As of Wednesday, 5 August, visitors to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, can now get a high tech insight into the building’s 800–year history following the launch of a new Discovery Space.

Located in the cathedral’s South Transept, the interpretative centre was officially opened by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe.

The Discovery Space includes a large touch screen table highlighting the cathedral’s history; iPads featuring the cathedral’s app, an area for doing brass rubbings, a large jigsaw of one of the cathedral’s stained glass windows, an audio visual unit and a reference library. All the modern technology is housed in recycled 19th century carved oak pews.

The 55–inch touch screen table allows users to explore the cathedral’s history and interior including its monuments, characters and stained glass windows as well as hidden areas of the building. The audio visual area includes videos and there are also facilities for presentations to be made to small groups.

The Discovery Space is the second phase of the €250,000 addition to the cathedral. Phase one involved the installation of the Tree of Remembrance in the north transept last summer. The tree commemorates those affected by conflict and has been accompanied by another interactive display remembering the First World War and the cathedral’s links to it (see one of our previous posts on this).

The Discovery Space is the latest high tech addition to the St Patrick’s Cathedral. The cathedral’s app, which uses iBeacon technology to enable tourists to guide themselves through the building, was launched earlier this year.