The artistic and historical treasures in Ireland that you must visit at least once in a lifetime

In the 2nd century AD, Roman polymath Ptolemy gathered together hundreds of coordinates corresponding to the cities and towns of the British Isles in his Geography. These were used to create a map that ‘terminates at all points with the ocean’. Far from defining the region as remote, however, this sea was the source of our relationship with Europe and with the countries that traded materials along the Asian Silk Roads and African ivory routes. It was also crucial for our creativity: artists in medieval Britain used garnets from India, walrus ivory from Greenland and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan — and Cornish gold has been found on prehistoric art in Germany.

This connectivity wasn’t restricted to materials: ideas flowed along sea routes and across kingdoms, bringing new perspectives and creating a fertile climate for art. Invaders brought fresh approaches: the Romans loved figurative sculpture; the Saxons preferred a sinuous, anthropomorphic style. Later, the British Isles became a place of refuge for Huguenot and Jewish artists and a place of opportunity for the Windrush generation, all of whom added to the rich history of British and Irish art.

Artists often worked in situ, painting the walls of churches and palaces, carving shapes into hillsides and tomb walls. We are fortunate that many such works are still visible today, often in buildings run by volunteers. Others are on display in our national museums, ensuring our collective visual history is preserved. For it is this history that brings us closest to our ancestors — to the things they held most dear, their spiritual and moral beliefs, their prejudices and their generosity.

The first place on our map this week is: Ireland.

Follow the sun

Brú na Bóinne, Co Meath, Ireland

To view the Brú na Bóinne passage tombs, you have to take a shuttle bus from the visitor centre near Drogheda in Co Meath and bump through the Irish countryside, before disembarking at each one in turn. The tombs are truly spectacular, a testament to the ingenuity and creativity of our prehistoric ancestors as they began to form permanent farming communities. They date to 5,200 years ago, but were only rediscovered in 1699 and not excavated until the 1960s. You can step inside Newgrange tomb and walk down the stonelined passage to the central chamber, where, on the winter solstice, a shaft of morning sunlight illuminates a complex triskele (three-headed spiral) on the back wall. Nearby, the grassy dome covering Knowth tomb is nearly 230ft across. Around the perimeter are carved kerbstones covered in spirals, crescents, serpentine lines and zigzags. These abstract patterns could once have communicated a world view, a belief system about our ancestors’ place in the cosmos.

Piece of the puzzle

'Decoration' by Mainie Jellett, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland

In recent years, museums and galleries across the British Isles have rethought their collections to present more work by women artists, which has enabled stories to resurface that are central to our understanding of our shared creative past. That of Mainie Jellett is one of them. She was born in Dublin in 1897, but studied in Paris in the studio of Cubist painter Albert Gleizes. Together with fellow Irish artist Evie Hone, she worked alongside Gleizes to push Cubism into new territory: abstraction. Jellett exhibited Decoration in 1923 at the Society of Dublin Painters, where it was the first abstract painting ever shown in Ireland. Despite the work’s Modernist credentials, it was met with incredulity and derision — one critic called it an ‘insoluble puzzle’. At a time when Ireland was fragmenting politically, Jellett’s orientation towards Europe was at odds with a fierce nationalism that saw painters such as Jack B. Yeats rapidly gain in popularity.

Tend to the sick

F. E. McWilliam’s Princess Macha and William Scott’s Mural, Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry, Northern Ireland

In 1948, the NHS was established and its first purpose-built hospital was Altnagelvin, on the outskirts of Derry. The architects commissioned William Scott to create a 15-panel mural (1959–61) to welcome visitors, keen for contemporary art to add an uplifting aspect to their design, and F. E. McWilliam’s Princess Macha (1957) was installed outside the entrance. He drew on Irish history for the commission: Macha was believed to have established the first hospital in Ireland more than 2,000 years before. She sits on a low stool and welcomes patients with open arms. The dove perching on her extended hand symbolises St Columba, who also treated the sick at his monastery in the 6th century.

Derry boys

‘The People’s Gallery’, Derry, Northern Ireland

In 1969, a civil-rights march from Belfast to Derry was attacked and Royal Ulster Constabulary officers and B-Specials flooded into the Catholic Bogside area of Derry. Residents fought back, declaring ‘Free Derry’. This began The Troubles, the 30-year sectarian conflict that saw Loyalists pitted against Republicans. Both sides were armed, but also harnessed the power of public art to create inflammatory propaganda murals on walls along the Shankill and Falls Roads in Belfast and in Bogside. Following the Good Friday peace agreement, three Bogside artists — brothers Tom and William Kelly and Kevin Hasson — created ‘The People’s Gallery’ (1994–2006), a series of murals that reflects on the history of The Troubles, yet offer messages of hope and peace.

This feature originally appeared in the December 31, 2025, issue of Country Life. Click here for more information on how to subscribe.