Places of Interest - Ireland

Rock of Cashel:

The territoiry of the Rock of Cashel is entirely walled. Inside this walled space you can find several religious buildings. The oldest building on the Rock of Cashel is a 28-meter round tower, built in the tenth century by King and Bishop Cormac I, serving as the defense. The Gothic Saint Patrick's Cathedral was built between 1235 and 1270. It follows a cross-shaped plan with a central, fourteenth century tower. There are still a number of grave monuments in the cathedral. Before the cathedral there is a replica of Saint Patrick’s Cross situated, a Celtic High Cross. The name refers to the story that Saint Patrick had converted the King of Munster at the Rock of Cashel to Christianity. The Romanesque chapel of King Cormac dates back to 1127 and was initiated in 1134. The frescoes on the ceiling of the chapel are among the best conserved frescoes of this period in Ireland. In the chapel is the richly decorated graveyard of King Cormac (eight-snakes), originally in the cathedral. From the eighteenth century the land around the buildings was used as a cemetery. There are a large number of High Crosses. 

"Hore" monastery:

About a kilometer south of the rock lie the 13th century ruins of the "Hore" monastery. From here you have a beautiful view of the rock.

In the 4th century, the Eóganachta founded their capital on the hill and since then the kings of Munster - southwest of Ireland resided here. Saint Patricius would have baptized the third king of Cashel, Aengus (and thus converted to Christianity), but it is more likely that this was done by Palladius. From 795 the area had to suffer from plundering trips from Vikings. Between 901 and 908, King Bishop Cormac Mac Cuileannain ruled from the Rock of Cashel. He helped strengthen the position of the church. In 977 Brian Boru was crowned King of Munster here. He was the first king who had not been from the Eghranachta for 500 years. In 1101 King Muircheatach O'Brien donated the Rock of Cashel to the church, which established an archbishop seat in 1111. 

In 1172, at the Synod of Cashel, an end was made to Celtic Christianity in Ireland when Roman Catholic authority was imposed by King Hendrik II of England, supported by the Papal Laudabiliter with which he would have given him the reign of Ireland. In 1494 the cathedral, built in the thirteenth century, was burned by the count of Kildare. In 1584, Dermot O Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, died in Dublin as a martyr. In 1641, the catholic worship in the cathedral was temporarily restored. In 1647, the Rock of Cashel was plundered by the English parliamentary troops led by Murrough O'Brien, the first inauguration of Inchiquin. Many Catholics were slaughtered. In 1649 there were again Catholic worship services until it was made impossible by Oliver Cromwell supporters and the cathedral was closed.