On Saturday, 12th August 2023, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral recorded over 1500 visitors for the Cork Heritage Open Day.

Eoin Murphy, Operations Manager at St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, writes:

We were delighted to see the visitor numbers for the Heritage Open Day being up by 40% compared to 2022! In addition to the regular tours on the hour we made a number of improvements to the programme which were well received by the visitors. The main west doors were opened which allowed visitors easy access and flooded the Cathedral with natural light, giving a lovely warm atmosphere. We had a comprehensive programme of organ music on the half hour performed by our Director of Music Peter Stobart, and the opening of the doors meant that the sound was even audible in the courtyard, attracting more visitors. It was notable how visitors who were exiting decided to turn back when the organ music commenced!

We also had an audio visual presentation of the Cathedral Choir which encouraged visitors to linger and enjoy the magnificent choral music, and our tour guides prepared a very entertaining and engaging walking tours of the grounds and graveyard.

The preparation and execution of Heritage Day at the Cathedral was a great team effort and the benefit of the fabulous weather made it a wonderful day at a beautiful heritage site.