Double Season Dublin at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Our Lady's Choral Society is Ireland's best-known choral body and has performed brilliantly at various music festivals in several lands. Grand opera has a double season Dublin season in Dublin, one in December, the other in May; and in the winter season the Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra gives weekly performances in Phoenix Hall. Huge movie houses are conspicuous, so there is plenty of opportunity for evening entertainment, and for restless feet there are several popular dance halls.

First recorded in AD 291, Dublin was converted to Christianity by St Patrick c. AD 450. The Anglo-Normans ousted the Danes in 1171. The General Post Office, Dublin was the scene of fierce fighting in May 1916 when Padraig Pearse proclaimed the Irish Republic from its steps. The population of Dublin was 502,749 (1986 census); the vast majority were Roman Catholic but there were small Anglican, Presbyterian and Jewish communities.

GUINNESS, gin'is, is the name of an Irish family of brewers. Arthur Guinness (f 768-1855) founded the brewing business in Dublin. After his death, his son, Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness (1798-1868), became sole proprietor of Arthur Guinness & Sons, developing an immense export trade. Lord mayor of Dublin and a member of Parliament, he restored St. Patrick's Gathedral in Dublin and was created a baronet in 1867.