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The Phoenix Park

Use the map of Phoenix Park to guide you

A park? More like a small kingdom!

Phoenix Park is huge! This urban garden - and national park - actually supports one of the largest herds of deer in Ireland! It's home to Ireland's President and the American Ambassador. The park boasts its very own castle, huge swathes of flowery plantings and lovely walkways, an obelisk to the victor of Waterloo and, just for finishers, some hippos and rhinos.

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Ireland's Jerusalem Connection

Like most places Irish, its history starts centuries ago. In the case of Phoenix Park, it starts in Jerusalem. There the successful crusaders stormed the walls of the holy city and massacred every one they could find. This upset the locals more than a little and the result was centuries of intermittent warfare.

To defend Christian pilgrims travelling to the holy land, a fighting order of Knights was founded - The Knights Templar. The Templar Order was hugely popular and thousands of knights throughout Europe joined the order's ranks. To support the work in the holy land, wealthy donors gave the Order huge estates.

One of these in Ireland was a fine tract of land boasting a famous healing spring called Fionn-uisage (Feenisk), meaning "clear water". It was just over the Liffey River from the chief seat of the Templars in Ireland. With this kind of wealth pouring in, the Templars became immensely rich and took on the role of international bankers. Nobody likes bankers! Including the king of France who eventually imprisoned and then burned the Order's Grand Master at the stake.

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The Bank becomes a Hospital

The land of the Templars was given to the more popular Hospitalers - another fighting order whose key task was to provide hospitals and resting places for travellers. The former seat of the Templars became a hospital, eventually the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham and now the Modern Art Museum.

Henry VIII, after his break with the Pope over his marriage to Anne Boleyn, "suppressed" the monasteries and holy orders throughout Ireland and England. Suppressed, in this case, means plundered. The lands of the Hospitalers were seized by the Crown. They lay in a derelict state till Queen Elizabeth ordered the area be laid out as a deer park, but someone forgot to tell the deer, who stayed away in droves.

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Phoenix Monument

Hundreds of years later the Earl of Chesterfield (the family made a fortune in tobacco) came over as Viceroy in the time of George II. He stocked the grounds with deer and erected a Corinthian column with a phoenix bird rising from the ashes at its pinnacle. Chesterfield wasn't the last to manhandle Irish place names to suit his English ears!

Chesterfield opened "Phoenix" Park to the people of Dublin and ever since....

Well, see for yourself! Phoenix Park House is just a few dozen feet from the main Park Gates.

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The Park

• 1,752 acres of wilderness and landscape gardens

• 300 different varieties of flowering grasses and ferns, aquatics, marsh plants and deciduous woodland plants.

• Home to a herd of Fallow deer since 1662

• Bird sanctuary

• Extensive sports fields and open air concert grounds.

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The Wellington Monument

Ireland's tallest monument!

It was intended as a tribute to Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington shortly after his victory at Waterloo in 1815. You know the old one about a camel being a horse designed by committee? Well, this monument's committee finally completed the obelisk in 1861 - years after the Duke's death! It's a good thing they ran out of money, or they still might be building the intended statue of Wellington on horseback. Kids and adults with a good sense of balance love the huge, sloping steps which lead to friezes depicting the Duke's battles.

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Aras An Uachtarain

Aras An Uachtarain, the Irish President's home, was designed by an amateur. Nathaniel Clements was a park ranger who liked to dabble with architectural designs. In 1751 his modest red-brick design was opened. After several extensions it became the residence of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Several British monarchs visited and stayed here while hunting deer in the Park. (Try to picture that scene - a middle class family out for a walk and the King comes tallyho-ing out of the woods, rifle in hand...).

In 1922, following the establishment of the Irish Free State, the house became the residence of the Governor-general. Sixteen years later Aras An Uachtarian welcomed the first president, Dr Douglas Hyde, into its Georgian splendour. There have been many improvements and additions to the house over the years. Annually over 15,000 people visit the portions open to the public. An appointment is necessary.

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Dublin Zoo

Dublin Zoo is one of the main attractions in the park. The Zoo is set in 30 acres and features over 700 animals and tropical birds from around the world. It was opened in 1830, making it the third oldest zoo in the world.

Opening Hours:	Monday to Saturday 9.30am-6.30pm Sundays 10.30am-6.00pm
Admission:	Adults £5.50 Children £3.00 Senior Citizens £3.00
Family Ticket	2 Adults and 2 Children £15.00 2 Adults and 4 Children £17.00
How to get there:	Buses 10 from O'Connell Street 25 & 26 from Middle Abbey Street

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Phoenix Park Visitor Centre

The Phoenix Park Visitor Centre is a sixteenth century castle and the oldest building in the Park.

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