If you’re heading to Dublin this month, here’s one for the culture file: the National Library of Ireland on Kildare Street runs free guided tours of its WB Yeats exhibition. The one to note is The Journey to A Vision, a guided afternoon tour of the exhibition that explores the people, events and influences behind Yeats’s most mysterious and esoteric work, A Vision. Tours need to be booked, so check nli.ie for dates and availability before you go.
The library’s October programme also includes a Director’s Tour of the building on Thursday 22 October at 6pm, according to travelextra.ie, which first reported the programme. Two other exhibitions are open until 2027, and they are not on Kildare Street. The Live Aid exhibition, The Global Jukebox, is at the National Photographic Archive on Meeting House Square in Temple Bar, with guided tours at 2pm on Fridays and 11am on Saturdays. Seamus Heaney’s Listen Now Again is at the Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre on Westmoreland Street.
Travelextra also notes that industrial action may affect opening hours, so check before you set out.
For visitors planning an October trip, this is exactly the kind of thing we love to flag. The Yeats exhibition draws on the library’s manuscripts and letters, and a guided walkthrough adds real depth. It also gives you something meaningful to do when the weather turns (and it will turn). Pair it with a walk through Temple Bar to Meeting House Square, or a wander through Merrion Square afterward, then coffee on Dawson Street. For more ideas, see our 50 free things to do in Dublin and best things to do in Dublin guides.
Worth building into your itinerary if you’re there. You can also see the library’s Seamus Heaney connection at the Seamus Heaney Poetry Library at No. 11 Parnell Square.
Event details are from travelextra.ie and nli.ie; check the library’s website for current times and dates.
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