Honan Chapel - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Honan Chapel is located on the grounds of University College Cork in Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

city, Ireland.

Irish Arts & Crafts movement

The chapel, and its liturgical collection, was produced during the late phase of the Irish Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

(1894–1925). Both the building and furnishings were designed and produced as a single unique commission. This accounts for an overall unity of style and design and the rich interplay of Celto-Byzantine motifs in the fabric of the building and the ornate furnishings, altar plate, hangings and vestments. The traditions of Celtic art

Celtic art

Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...

and Hiberno-Romanesque architecture were blended with tastes for Symbolism (arts)

Symbolism (arts)

Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...

and Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

popular in Europe before the outbreak of the First World War (1914–18). In Ireland, this was known, artistically, as the Celtic Twilight

Irish Literary Revival

The Irish Literary Revival was a flowering of Irish literary talent in the late 19th and early 20th century.-Forerunners:...

: a time for rediscovering a lost national identity through Celtic art and myths. This is seen in the poetry of W. B. Yeats and the plays of J. M. Synge. Visually, the patrons of the Honan commission were searching for a new sense of Irish national identity on the threshold of political independence from Britain.

Patronage and foundation

The Honan Chapel is a unique case study illustrating the role played by the Dublin schools in helping to renew Cork (city)

Cork (city)

craftsmanship in the first decades of the twentieth-century. The chapel occupies a special place in the spiritual life of the community at University College, Cork since its consecration on 5 November 1916. Although the chapel is dedicated to Cork's patron Finbarr its name commemorates the chapel's benefactors, wealthy Cork merchants, the Honan family. When Isabella Honan, died in 1913 the executor of her will, Rev. Sir John O´Connell, allocated £40,000 of the Honan estate to Queen's College now University College, Cork. Under the foundation charter of Queen's College Cork (1845) the college is non-denominational. As it had no place of worship, some of the money from the Honan estate was used to build a chapel to serve Roman Catholic students.

The foundation stone of the Honan Chapel was laid on 18 May 1915. The architectural style of the chapel cites the Hiberno-Romanesque tradition of the Middle Ages. The Chapel is most similar to the 12th century church of St. Cronan in Roscrea

Roscrea

Roscrea is a small heritage town in North Tipperary, Ireland. The town has a population of 4,910. Its main industries include meat processing and pharmaceuticals. It is a civil parish in the historical barony of Ikerrin...

, County Tipperary

County Tipperary

County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...

, while its bell-tower on the north wall is inspired by round towers

Irish round tower

Irish round towers , Cloigthithe – literally "bell house") are early medieval stone towers of a type found mainly in Ireland, with three in Scotland and one on the Isle of Man...

of monastic settlement

Monastic settlement

Monastic settlements are areas built up in and around the development of monasteries with the spread of Christianity.These settlements are of historic interest as the development of a monastery typically spurred other settlement developments over many hundred of years which may be rich in...

s so common in Ireland from the 9th century onwards.

Built by John Sisk & Son, it is a unique case study illustrating the role played by the Dublin schools in helping to renew Cork craftsmanship in the first decades of the twentieth-century. Rev. Sir John Robert O’Connell, educated by the Jesuits at Belvedere College

Belvedere College

Belvedere College SJ is a private secondary school for boys located on Great Denmark Street, Dublin, Ireland. It is also known as St. Francis Xavier's College....

, Dublin, was a driving force in its construction. The Irish Jesuits educated a number of the leading patrons of the Irish Arts & Crafts movement. Thomas Bodkin

Thomas Bodkin

Professor Thomas Patrick Bodkin was an Irish lawyer, art historian, art collector and curator.Bodkin was Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin from 1927 to 1935 and founding Director of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham from 1935 until 1952, where he acquired the...

had attended Belvedere College and Clongowes Wood. He became Director of the National Gallery, Dublin (1927–35). One of the movement’s internationally best-known craftsmen, Harry Clarke

Harry Clarke

Harry Clarke was an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.- History :...

, a stained glass artist and book illustrator, was educated at Belvedere College. O'Connell worked closely with the president of University College Cork, Sir Bertram Allan Coghill Windle (1858–1929), to achieve his goals. The chapel and its liturgical collection are products of the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement (1894–1925). This accounts for the overall unity of style. It was envisaged that the chapel would serve the needs of college students residing in the nearby Honan Hostel (1914–1991).

John Robert O’Connell commissioned the Cork firm of Egan & Sons for work on the altar plate and vestments. Craftswomen played a significant role in the Irish Arts & Crafts movement. The names of seamstresses from the Egan workshop, formerly in 32 Patrick St. Cork, are inscribed in the lining of the Cloth of Gold. These items are a testament to the significant role played by women in the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement. These fragile items are currently in storage and in need of conservation. Students from the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute, which became the Crawford College of Art & Design, were involved in the exterior carvings. The foundation stone of the chapel was laid on 18 May 1915. James Finbarre McMullen was the architect and John Sisk was the builder. Both were Cork firms. McMullen had a high profile in the city. He had been High Sheriff for the City of Cork in 1907-08. Significant works by McMullen in Cork city include: Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, Western Rd. (1897); conservation of the Firkin Crane, built in 1855 in the Shandon district of the city (1900); St. Finbarre’s West Total Abstinence Club, Bandon Road. (1900), formerly known as “Lough Rovers” and now as the “Spires” apartment complex and the remodeling Holy Trinity Church, Fr. Mathew Quay (1906–08). In 1996 Sisk & Sons worked as contractors on the O’Rahilly Building project. This complex was built on the site of the former Honan Hostel (1914–91).

The Honan Chapel is internationally regarded as representing the best artwork of the Irish Arts & Crafts Movement (1894–1925). However, socially, the commission was also significant because the project generated much needed work in Cork during the First World War (1914–18). The project fostered the revival of silver and textile craft working, once central to the Cork economy, and supported local firms, through patronage, such as the builders John Sisk & Son. Today Sisk is a construction firm of national importance. Egan’s of Patrick Street continued making liturgical altar plate and textiles until it ceased trading in 1986. As a central figure behind the Honan commission, Rev. Sir John Robert O’Connell was a catalyst in Irish cultural life at the turn of the twentieth century. His collaboration with Sir Bertram Windle between 1914-17 greatly assisted the physical expansion of University College Cork and the revival of craft industry in Cork.

Artwork and liturgical collection

Since the opening of the Honan Chapel, in 1916, the colourful mosaic floor has attracted much interest due to the fine quality of its craftsmanship. Yet, the identity of the mosaic designer is unattributed in the chapel guidebook, written by John Robert O'Connell, published in 1916 and republished by Michael J. O'Kelly in 1966. Paul Larmour, Mary Leland and Viginia Teehan & Elizabeth Wincott Heckett attribute the design to the firm of Ludwig Oppenheimer in Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

. In 2006, Michael Holland in Ireland and Robert Field in England independently proposed Lehmann James Oppenheimer (Field; Holland) and his son Eric Newton (Field) as the designers of the Honan Chapel mosaic floor and the Stations of the Cross. On the outbreak of war both father and son joined the British army and saw action in France. Lehmann James Oppenheimer, who had joined the Artists' Rifles

Artists' Rifles

The Artists Rifles is a volunteer regiment of the British Army. Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regiment saw active service during the Boer Wars and World War I, earning a number of battle honours; however, it did not serve outside of Britain during World War II, as...

, died in hospital on 8 November 1916 following a gas attack in the heavily defended German lines of the Vimy

Vimy

Vimy is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography and history:Vimy is a farming town, situated some north of Arras, at the junction of the D51 and the N17 roads....

sector, north of Arras, during the final phases of the Somme Offensive. His son, who survived the war, succeeded him as designer in the family firm until 1933. In 1936 he married Stella Mary Newton

Stella Mary Newton

Stella Mary Newton, née Pearce was an English fashion designer and dress historian, who brought the history of fashion to bear on art history and the dating of paintings....

(née Pearce), costume designer and dress historian: born London 17 April 1901; awarded an OBE in 1976; died London 18 May 2001. Oppenheimer's established in 1865, finally closed in 1965.

Design highlights include the mosaic floor, with its focus on the Christian theme of the "River of Life", the tabernacle

Church tabernacle

A tabernacle is the fixed, locked box in which, in some Christian churches, the Eucharist is "reserved" . A less obvious container, set into the wall, is called an aumbry....

with enamels by Oswald Reeves and, most famously, the stained glass

Stained glass

The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

windows of Harry Clarke

Harry Clarke

Harry Clarke was an Irish stained glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement.- History :...

and Sarah Purser's

Sarah Purser

-Early life:She was born in Kingstown in County Dublin, and raised in Dungarvan, County Waterford. She was educated in Switzerland and afterwards studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and in Paris at the Académie Julian.-Artist:...

studio. The St. Gobnait

Gobnait

Saint Gobnait , also known as Gobnat or Mo Gobnat, is the name of a local female Irish saint whose church was Móin Mór, now Bairnech, in the village of Baile Bhuirne , County Cork in Ireland...

window on the north side of the chapel was nearly destroyed during the Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

in Dublin. Changes in the liturgy, brought about by Vatican II, gave opportunities for a new generation of artists to decorate the Honan Chapel between 1983 and 2001. Imogen Stuart

Imogen Stuart

Imogen Stuart is a sculptor.Born in Berlin, she moved to Ireland in 1951. She was married for a time to Irish artist Ian Stuart, son of writer Francis Stuart.-Works:She works in wood, bronze, stone, steel, clay and terracotta...

designed the altar, ambo, priest's chair and baptismal font. Hangings were designed by Evelyn Ross and Kim En Joong. The organ was built by Kenneth Jones, Bray, Co. Wicklow. Music plays a central part in the celebration of the liturgy in the chapel. Sunday liturgy is accompanied by invited choirs.

Sources and links

Contemporary accounts of the Chapel and its Collection:
McMullen, J. “St. Finn Barr’s Collegiate Chapel” University College Cork Gazette vii 19 December 1916,187-88.
O’Connell, J. The Honan Hostel Chapel Cork: Some Notes on the Building and the Ideas which Inspired It (Guy & Co., Cork, 1916).
Windle, B. “The Honan Benefactions” University College Cork Gazette iv 12 June 1914, 103-07.
Select Studies on the Chapel and the Irish Arts & Crafts movement:
Bowen, J & O’Brien, C. Cork Silver and Gold: Four Centuries of Craftsmanship (the Collins Press, 2005).
Gordon Bowe, N. Harry Clarke (The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, 1979).
Larmour, P. The Arts and Crafts Movement in Ireland (Belfast, 1992).
Larmour, P. “The Honan Chapel: a shrine to the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement” Decorative Studies V (2002) 23-47.
Murphy, J. A. The College: a history of Queen’s/ University College Cork, 1845-95 (Cork University Press, Cork, 1995).
O'Kelly, M. J. The Honan Chapel University College Cork (Third edition, Cork University Press, 1966).
Sheehy, J. The Rediscovery of Ireland’s Past 1830-1930 (Thames & Hudson, London, 1980).
Teehan, V. & Heckett, E. The Honan Chapel: A Golden Vision (Cork University Press, Cork, 2004).
On the Chapel and Collection follow:
- Chaplaincy, University College Cork http://www.uccchaplaincy.com.

The Honan Chapel & Collection Online http://honan.ucc.ie.

- The Craftsman's Honoured Hand: A Seminar on the Honan Chapel and its Collection, Saturday, 29 January 2000 University College Cork http://www.ucc.ie/heritage
On L. Oppenheimer Ltd. follow:
- Commonwealth War Graves Commission http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=48333
- Dictionary of Irish Architects, 1720-1940 http://www.dia.ie/architects/view/4230
- Robert Field “L. Oppenheimer Ltd and the Mosaics of Eric Newton” (2006) http://www.tilesoc.org.uk/events/conference2006/papers/pdf/field.pdf
- roll of Honour, Artists' Rifles http://www.archive.org/stream/regimentalrollof00highiala#page/10/mode/2up

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.