Dunamaise Arts Centre () is an arts and cultural centre located in

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

, Ireland, opened in 1999.

History

Maryborough Gaol was built in a Neoclassical style. It is a seven- bay, two-storey building over a concealed basement with a three-bay central breakfront, built of

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

. It was renovated in the 1990s, and opened in 1999 as Dunamaise Arts Centre, named for the nearby

Rock of Dunamase Dunamase or the Rock of Dunamase ( ga, Dún Másc "fort of Másc") is a rocky outcrop in County Laois, Ireland. Rising above a plain, it has the ruins of Dunamase Castle, a defensive stronghold dating from the early Hiberno-Norman period with ...

, a medieval fortress.

Facilities

The theatre has 238 seats; it has a

proscenium arch A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

and measures wide, deep and high. There is also an exhibition gallery, restaurant and workshop spaces.

References

{{Theatres in Ireland Theatres in County Laois Defunct prisons in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Portlaoise 1999 establishments in Ireland