The Rotunda Hospital Dublin

Virtual Culture Night 2020

What’s On

The historic Rotunda Chapel is the jewel in the crown of the world’s oldest maternity hospital. Situated to the north of O’Connell Street, it maintains a special place in the day-to-day life of patients and staff of the hospital.

Normally on Culture Night, we would offer guests a rare opportunity to visit the beautiful Chapel and learn about the history of one of Dublin’s most recognisable landmarks in person. However, this year due to COVID-19 and the fact that the Chapel is situated right in the middle of a busy postnatal ward, we’ve prepared some online material to hopefully give you a taste of this unique space.

Two Hundred And Seventy Five Years.

Almost One Million Babies.

One Maternity Hospital.

This year, we are celebrating of 275 years of The Rotunda Hospital, Dublin. We are so grateful to the Irish Doctors Choir and Irish Doctors Orchestra for this wonderful performance of excerpts from Handel’s Foundling Hospital Anthem.

We hope you enjoy the music, accompanied by images of the Hospital from the past 275 years and with introductions from Brian MacKay, Choir Director and Prof. Michael Geary of the Rotunda Hospital.

In our second Culture Night 2020 video, our Head Librarian Anne takes us through the fascinating life of Bartholomew Mosse, the dreamer and visionary that gave everything to build The Rotunda, and care for the women and babies of Dublin 275 years ago.

This Culture Night get a behind the scenes look at the jewel in the crown of The Rotunda – the Chapel, and let Prof Mike Geary, former Master, tell the story of Bartholomew Mosse and how The Rotunda came to be. 

After founding the first ‘Rotunda’ on South Great Georges St, Bartholomew Mosse put his mind to building a purpose built Maternity Hospital at the top of Great Britain Street (now known as Parnell St), and we’re still here today.

In our final video for Culture Night 2020, Prof Geary describes the unique features of the Rotunda Chapel, a calm and quiet haven in the busiest maternity hospital in Ireland, a jewel in the crown of The Rotunda.

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