Crawford Art Gallery

Open 10am to 5pm

Crawford Art Gallery is an important historic building in the centre of Cork City, parts of which date back to the early eighteenth century. The building which now houses Crawford Art Gallery, was erected in 1724, as Cork´s Custom House and recalls the ties between commercial success and the development Cork city in the early eighteenth and nineteenth century. In 1830 the old Custom House building was given to the Royal Cork Institution, (a forerunner of the present University College Cork).

A new house was built at this time to accommodate the rapidly expanding port operations. The building became a Government School of Design in 1850 and part of the South Kensington School system some years later.

A magnificent extension, housing studios and galleries, was added in 1884 to accommodate the growing number of students, at the expense of William Horatio Crawford, after whom it was named Crawford School of Art. The conversion of the building into a School of Art and Gallery in the early nineteenth century was the first step to the establishment of art collection. When the School of Art relocated to its current premises in 1979, the building became the home for Crawford Art Gallery. A dramatic new gallery extension was added in 2000.

The Gallery is home to the famous Canova Casts, gifted to the city of Cork two centuries ago.

Well-known and loved works by 20th century Irish artists such as Seán Keating, Harry Clarke, Norah McGuinness, Mainie Jellet and Jack B. Yeats feature in the gallery’s historic collection, while the modern collection features work by contemporary artists such as Eilis O’Connell, Gerard Byrne, Dorothy Cross, Maud Cotter and Hughie O’Donoghue.

A guided tour of the Crawford Art Gallery will take place at 2pm. No booking required.