The Marian Tour

8 fold zine & map. All proceeds donated to Dublin Rape Crisis Centre

Come meet Our Ladies of the Liberties on this walking tour guide.

From a burnt virgin to a holy bomb shelter, hear the stories behind the Marian grottos that punctuate shared spaces in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Dublin’s inner city. While gentrification threatens tight knit communities, the Marys that were built amongst public housing are now overshadowed by aparthotels and cranes building for private interests.

This tour brings some insight into the significance of these shrines in public spaces and the transformed Ireland where they stand today, where landslide changes have been achieved but inequality has in many ways deepened, where the injustices of religious institutions have been brought to light but where there is still little justice for survivors. During a reclamation and a revolutionising of Mary and of female spirituality, these grottos highlight an ongoing dedication to community spaces of worship, reshaping how we see and understand ourselves.

We will start on Meath Street and explore the Liberties, stopping at a brand new Marian shrine and a Mary statue that was rehoused through donations in 1993, the same year homosexuality was finally decriminalised. There will also be the option to carry on to Goldenbridge, the former industrial school where survivors like Christine Buckley, who broke silence about abuse, were incarcerated.