Dublin Castle

A wooden church was built by the Vikings around 1030, and the first stone church was from the 1180s. So this is the oldest building in Dublin, though it underwent a massive restoration in the 1870s. It became Protestant under Henty VIII, apart from a brief Roman Catholic interlude in 1690 when the exiled James II was campaigning in Ireland, and the Vatican still claims it. The oldest part is the large crypt, where amongst the items on display are a mummified cat and rat, which got themselves stuck in the church organ in the 19th century.

Founded in 1191, it became Anglican at the Reformation, so the Protestants had two cathedrals in the same city while the Catholics had none. It feuded with Christ Church over rights and precedence, until 1871 when Christ Church was nominated the senior church for Dublin and Glendalough and St Patrick's for the rest of Ireland. Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, was dean of St Patrick's from 1713 to 1745 and is buried here, as is his lady friend Stella Johnson. It was rebuilt in the 1860s into a confident pile of Victoriana, and anything that looks medieval is probably a 19th century concoction.

Founded in 1871 so this is the oldest continually operating theatre in Dublin. It hosts popular musical shows, opera, ballet, dance and drama.

Trinity College is the fine Georgian campus of the University of Dublin. It's generally open to stroll around in daylight hours, but it is a working university, and most interiors are off-limits to tourists. You can visit the Chapel near the front (west) gate of the College. But the big attraction is the Old Library and Book of Kells. Book online, otherwise buy your ticket from the machines under the Lecky library just south. This is for a timed slot, and at weekends may be booked out. You enter an exhibition hall setting the Book in the context of other monastic writings of its period, circa 800 AD. Next enter the display area: only two pages are displayed at any time, one being richly illustrated with little text (or no text, on the "carpet" pages), and one page being text of the Vulgate Gospels, written in Insular Majuscule Latin. But it's difficult to enjoy, with crowds jostling round the display case. Next, go upstairs into the massive Long Hall of the library, with books and ladders and more books and ladders towering away upwards. No books are accessible to the public. Last but not least, exit through the gift shop, which can be entered without a ticket.

Safe space for LGBTQ+ people, with community café, social and cultural events, resources and support services, a queer library, theatre and meeting spaces.

Distillery opened in 2015, primarily for whiskey but with small amounts of poitín.