Preservation in Dublin
My family and I spent 2 days in Dublin, Ireland and we went on a historical walking tour because thankfully they’re just as nerdy as I am sometimes. We spent over two hours walking around and learning about its thousand years of history the city held. Since the 9th and 10th centuries there were both Vikings and Gaelic settlements in Dublin. There were some great examples of preservation in Dublin like Dublin Castle. It used to be home to the British rule in Ireland until 1922 when it was handed over to the new Irish republic government where it is used as state apartments and for national events.
It was a medieval castle form the 13th century till the 17th when after a fire it was turned into the Georgian palace that is still standing and in use today. This is an important building in Irish history and deserved to be preserved but other parts of Dublin’s history also deserved such preservation.
The site of the Vikings old settlement in Dublin was where municipal buildings stand today. When they were excavating for these buildings they found proof and artifacts of a Viking settlement that was hundreds of years old. Archaeologists told them they would need 5 year to excavate it completely but were only given 6 months. They took and preserved the artifacts they could in those six months and the rest were built over. If you didn’t have a tour guide with a doctorate in Dublin’s history telling you, you would have no idea that that particular area of Dublin was home to huge Viking settlements. To “rectify” this Dublin put molds of some of the artifacts they found in the sidewalk through out the are of Dublin where the settlement was, as seen above. There are no signs that tell what they are or give an explanation for them. I was shocked to see such terrible preservation and even though I personally struggled with archaeology I understand it’s extreme importance. I couldn’t believe how little time the archaeologists were given and how badly the city handled this situation. It made me realize just how important it is for preservation to be in the public eye not just decided by governments and just how badly it can be done.
(Pictures are Dublin castle, molds of Viking artifacts in sidewalk)