St Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork, one of the most imposing buildings in the city, is seeking to raise £5 million in a major renovation project to restore the building, the historic site of the foundation of Cork by St Finbarr.
The cathedral is 125 years old and was built in the French Gothic style. It is believed that when the patron saint of Cork founded his monastery there, he began what would become a site of Christian worship for 1,400 years.
The building is the 11th to be erected on the site, and archaeologists believe that in the ground beneath there may be many archaeological treasures.
In the fund-raising project announced yesterday, the cathedral authorities said they wished to develop a 600 sq m crypt underground in the forecourt of the cathedral, basically an interpretative centre which would reflect the fact that visitor numbers have more than doubled since 1986 to 36,000 people each year.
During the severe storms last Christmas, the cathedral suffered serious damage, and this has prompted the renovation project.
It will mean replacing 15,000 new slates in the roof and releading some of the spectacular stained-glass windows. Last night the Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross, the Right Rev Roy Warke, said the project was one of the most significant ever undertaken in Cork.
"Here at St Fin Barre's we are very conscious of our roots stretching back to the dawn of civic and religious history."
He added that the project, which has been named St Fin Barre's Beyond 2000, was geared to the future and to the preservation not just of an important building but of the liturgical and theological tradition "which has so much to offer to this city and to this country".