This is the slogan of Ireland’s National Heritage Week, which has been running this week throughout the country.
A sort of wake-up call – look around you, appreciate what we have, preserve it for the future.
This lonely spot in Connemara was where Marconi’s first transAtlantic wireless station was.
The abandoned 18thC Magazine Fort, in Phoenix Park, Dublin
A message which any country could take to heart … in Ireland, there is much to regret about the excesses of the so-called “Tiger Economy”, but we are in more reflective mode now.
There is a vast array of events, see :
Thousands turned out to the 800 separate events in the first two days alone.
There are free guided tours, sometimes costumed, access to Archives, music, song and dance…
The National Library is staging an exhibition about the Dublin Lockout, which began exactly 100 years ago
At that time, one-third of the city “lived in abject poverty” and wonderful photos from the era are on display . http://www.nli.ie/lockout
IMMA, Dublin
The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) will run tours of its wonderful formal gardens at its 17thC Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
Royal Hospital Kilmainham
It’s not just about preserving our physical culture.
Ireland has made a remarkable contribution to literature – novels, plays, poetry, 4 Nobel Laureates for Literature. So there are lots of live performances.
This year there’s a new initiative “Our heritage in 10 items”. What would you put on your country’s list?
In Ireland,probably a copy of the 1916 Declaration of Independence; in the US it would be perhaps the Constitution? in the UK, Magna Carta?
Mount Usher, voted Ireland’s finest garden, has its Heritage Day today. It contains a collection of some of Ireland’s finest trees and much more besides.
Ireland’s oldest Tulip Tree, Mt Usher
It’s a place of utter tranquillity.
Mount Usher Gardens, Wicklow.
So, wherever you are, enjoy what the past has given us and let’s help preserve it for the future.
(All photography mine; feel free to use any of Jardin’s images but please credit and link back )
Jardin 