Crawford Art Gallery

Set in the heart of Cork City Centre, Crawford Art Gallery is a delightful city museum, with an impressive permanent collection, an active program of rotating exhibits, and an atmospheric Ballymaloe cafe for coffees, teas, and tasty meals.

Crawford Art Gallery is a delightful gem in the heart of Cork City. Located beside the Opera House, the Crawford provides a vital resource to residents and tourists, attracting some 200,000 visitors a year. The Crawford is dedicated to promoting the significant role that the visual arts play in contemporary life and culture.

Crawford Gallery has an active program featuring top caliber Irish and international artists, with prominent rotating exhibits adding to its allure. But its permanent collection, comprising over 2,000 works of art, is certainly nothing to overlook. It features a diversity of artistic expressions, ranging from eighteenth century Irish and European painting and sculpture, through to contemporary video installations. But its the native Irish art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that remains the Crawford's speciality, along with a prominent collection of Greek and Roman sculpture casts, brought to Cork in 1818 from the Vatican Museum in Rome.

It was the donation of these castings that provided the impetus for the creation of the Crawford. In 1825, the collection moved to its present location, housed in a stately red brick building that was once the customs house. For many years the building also served as a school of art. In fact this dedication to education continues today, with a comprehensive programme of lectures, workshops, tours, and an exciting and challenging exhibition programme. The Friends of the Crawford support organisation also organises lectures and museum visits, both in Ireland and abroad.

If You GO: Crawford Art Gallery is open year round, Monday - Saturday from 10:00 - 17:00, with last entrance 16:45. Closed Sundays and over Christmas holidays. Admission is free.