This is the entrance to Marsh’s Library, close to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and opened in 1701, the first public library in Dublin.It’s the place where Dracula was born. The Library is on the See Dublin by Bike tour route.
Here the Dublin born writer, Bram Stoker, worked on his global horror novel, published in 1897.
Bram Stoker was born Abraham Stoker on November 8, 1847, in Fairview, on the north side of Dublin. He was one of seven children.
According to biography.com: In 1864, Stoker enrolled at the University of Dublin—founded by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592—where he attended the university’s sole constituency, Trinity College. He graduated with honors from Trinity College in 1870, earning a mathematics degree. Not long after, he was hired as a civil servant at Dublin Castle, home to British royals in Ireland from the early 1800s to the early 1920s. (Stoker’s father had also worked as a civil servant at the castle, and helped his son land a position there.)
While working at the castle, Stoker began juggling another role: In the evenings, he worked as an unpaid writer for a local newspaper, the Dublin Evening Mail (later the Evening Mail), penning reviews of various theatrical productions in the City of Dublin. This led to Stoker meeting the English actor, Sir Henry Irving, who asked the Dubliner to run his Lyceum Theatre in London, which Stoker did for 30 years.
Marsh’s Library has its own ‘spooky’ story, the legend that the building is haunted by Archbishop Marsh’s ghost, forever searching for a note it is said that was left by his niece, who had been his carer, before she met a man and eloped.
Not surprisingly, the annual Bram Stoker Festival at the end of October (of course) holds many of its events here, where Dracula was born.
http://www.bramstokerfestival.com
Where Dracula was born – the interior of Marsh’s Library, featuring the famous ‘cages’.