Tour good to be true

The tours are open to all on a first-come, first-served basis and will be held every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday. No pre-booking is required. The gallery’s expert tour guides will be on hand to take visitors on a journey through the Crawford’s national collection and ever-changing exhibitions.

The tour experience will vary from week to week, offering fascinating insights, information and stories behind the artworks and the artists who created them.

Marketing and Communications Manager at the Crawford Art Gallery, Dyane Hanrahan said: “It is fantastic to see tours coming back to the gallery. We are so excited to see first-time visitors and other visitors coming back again and again to enjoy our tours with experienced art historians and artists. Tours are a great introduction to the gallery and will suit everyone, from families and young people, to the more seasoned visitor. You don’t have to have experience of art to enjoy the tours. We encourage people to just give it a try.”

To celebrate St Patrick’s Festival, the gallery is also offering tours on 17, 18 and 20 March starting at 2pm each day.

Originally built in 1724 as the city’s Customs House, the Crawford Art Gallery is home to the famous Canova Casts, gifted to Cork two centuries ago.

Visitors can look forward to seeing the gallery’s collection of over 3,000 well-known and much-loved works by Irish artists such as James Barry, Harry Clarke, Mainie Jellett, Seán Keating, Daniel Maclise, Norah McGuinness, Edith Somerville, and Jack B Yeats, as well as contemporary artists Aideen Barry, Gerard Byrne, Maud Cotter, Dorothy Cross, Brian Maguire, Eilis O’Connell, and Hughie O’Donoghue.

The Crawford Art Gallery is an Irish national cultural institution, dedicated to contemporary and historic visual art.

Home to a collection of national importance, it tells a compelling story of Cork and Ireland over the last three centuries, while also offering a vibrant and dynamic programme of temporary exhibitions.

An oasis of calm and tranquillity, Crawford Art Gallery is open seven days a week.