Heritage hot spots: History, nature, art, environment

National Gallery of Ireland

What is it?The National Gallery of Ireland, on Merrion Square in Dublin, was designed by the architect Francis Fowke. It opened to the public on January 30th, 1864, with a display of 112 pictures. In 1866, an annual purchase grant of £1,000 enabled the acquisition of art works that has resulted in the current collection of more than 15,000 pieces. Gifts, bequests and donations were sometimes so large that new extensions were named after the donors – the Beit Wing, for example, recognises the gifting of 17 old master paintings by Sir Alfred and Lady Beit of Russborough House, in Co Wicklow. The most recent addition to the gallery, the Millennium Wing, opened in January 2002. The Dargan and Milltown Wings are closed for restoration; in the meantime, many of their paintings have been moved to the Millennium Wing.

Why visit?The National Gallery has masterpieces by artists from the major European schools of art, from the early Renaissance to the 20th century, and the world's most comprehensive collection of Irish art. Highlights from the collections include Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio's The Taking of Christ(1602), Vincent Van Gogh's Rooftops in Paris(1886), Pablo Picasso's Still Life with a Mandolin(1924), The Liffey Swimby Jack B Yeats (1923), A Connemara Villageby Paul Henry (1933-34) and A Familyby Louis le Brocquy (1951).

Why visit now?The gallery's annual exhibition of watercolours by Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Light in the Darkness,opens tomorrow. A display of silhouettes and miniatures by John Comerford, Richard Crosse, Henry Bone and Nathaniel Hone the Elder, among others, will be shown alongside the Turner watercolours in the Print Gallery. A series of talks on Turner and Romantic nature will accompany the exhibition, which runs until January 31st. Fables and Fairy Tales, an exhibition of prints and drawings from the 1870s to the 1920s used as illustrations for fairy tales, poems and stories, continues until March 25th. A new art-studies course, entitled Great Art in the Context of its Time, begins on Thursday, January 12th, at 6.30pm with a public talk, What Is a Masterpiece?, by Prof Nigel Rolfe. Tickets €8.50 (or €95 for the series of 12 talks).

How do I get there?The main entrance to the gallery is on Clare Street, leading into the Millennium Wing. It is five minutes' walk from St Stephen's Green, Grafton Street and Pearse Street Dart station. It is open today from 9.30am to 5.30pm; tomorrow from noon to 5.30pm; and on Monday from 10am to 5.30pm. Normal opening hours resume on Tuesday (Monday to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 9.30am-5.30pm; Thursday 9.30am-8.30pm; Sunday noon-5.30pm). Admission free. Free public tours on Saturdays at 2pm and Sundays at 1pm and 2pm. (01-6615133, nationalgallery.ie).