St. Mary's Cathedral, Killarney, is the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

church of the Diocese of Kerry situated to the west of

Killarney Killarney ( ; , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Killar ...

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Architecture

St. Mary's Cathedral was designed by the renowned English architect Augustus Welby Pugin, who is said to have gained inspiration from the ruins of Ardfert Cathedral "which is particularly evident in the slender triple lancets in the east and west walls". Construction began in 1842 but was not continuous. The great famine and the lack of available funds meant the work was stopped several times; when work recommenced in 1853, the interior decorations were designed by James Joseph McCarthy. In 1855 the building was ready for regular worship. Separately the spire and nave were completed in 1907 by the Irish architects Ashlin and Coleman of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, who had designed Cobh Cathedral. The width of the nave was based on the medieval models to be found throughout Ireland and England. The west end is very Irish in character, with three tall lancet windows and a very low entrance door beneath. The stonework used is an attractive mixture of brown and grey stone. The siting of the church is more like the siting of a priory than the siting of a cathedral, as the cathedral stands in a huge field instead of in the middle of the original settlement of Killarney. In 1973 the cathedral was "reordered" under the direction of Bishop Eamonn Casey. Many of the original interior features were removed or damaged and this renovation is regarded by some as controversial. A flavour of the scale of the change envisioned by the architect Ray Carroll is given in this assessment: "the greatest single change was the removal of all the internal Victorian plasterwork. The original reredos, altar and screens were removed, the floor of the crossing was raised to the level of the former sanctuary, and a new sanctuary was created at the crossing. A new altar, pulpit, throne and chairs, all made of Tasmanian oak, were installed." File:Cathedral organ of killarney by paride.jpg, Organ File:Window of Killarney Cathedral by Paride.jpg, Window File:Left chapel of the cathedral of killerney by paride.jpg, Left chapel

References

Bibliography

*Peter Galloway, The Cathedrals of Ireland, The Institute of Irish Studies, The Queen's University of Belfast, 1992 {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Cathedral, Killarney Roman Catholic churches in County Kerry Roman Catholic cathedrals in the Republic of Ireland Roman Catholic Diocese of Kerry Augustus Pugin buildings 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Ireland Roman Catholic churches completed in 1855 19th-century churches in the Republic of Ireland