Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral is the older of Dublin's two medieval cathedrals and the city's oldest building still in use, founded around 1030 by Sitric Silkenbeard, the Hiberno-Norse king of Dublin, and rebuilt in stone by the Anglo-Normans under Strongbow from the 1180s. It stands on the ridge above the Liffey at the heart of the original walled city. Strongbow (Richard de Clare) is traditionally said to be buried here, his tomb effigy lying in the nave.

The cathedral's great feature is its crypt — at nearly 64 metres, the largest medieval crypt in Ireland or Britain, running the full length of the building above. It holds centuries of curiosities: civic regalia, statues removed from the nave, and "Tom and Jerry," a mummified cat and rat found trapped in an organ pipe and mentioned by James Joyce in Finnegans Wake. The cathedral was heavily restored in the 1870s, funded by the whiskey distiller Henry Roe.

A self-guided visit covers the nave, the crypt and — in season — the belfry, where you can try a turn at bell-ringing. Christ Church is linked by the covered stone bridge to Dublinia, the Viking and medieval museum in the former Synod Hall next door, and a combined ticket covers both. Dublin Castle and the Chester Beatty Library are a five-minute walk to the east.