Heritage Week 2025 at RCPI
We are delighted to announce that RCPI’s Heritage Centre will once again be taking part in the Heritage Council’s National Heritage Week, where Ireland’s cultural, built and natural heritage is celebrated for one week in August. RCPI has been part of this for over a decade, offering a wide range of activities centred around Ireland’s medical history.
This year is no different, with the College hosting four free unique events, from exhibitions and tours to film screenings. These will all take place between Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August.
Guided tours of RCPI (18-22 August)
Our guided tours always prove to be popular, with a chance to explore our historic home at 6 Kildare Street. We will bring you through the College’s long history, as well as the building itself and learn more about the work the Heritage Centre does.
This year we will be running tours at 11am and 2pm from Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August. While free to attend, booking is required. You can book your space here.
Homesick: Domestic medicine in Ireland exhibition (18-22 August)
Come and see our newest exhibition, Homesick: Domestic medicine in Ireland. Spanning the mid-18th century to the turn of the 20th century, the exhibition explores the importance of the home in the treatment of illnesses of the past. It focuses on the middle and upper-class homes of Ireland, highlighting the role of woman in delivering medical care, as well as the kinds of treatments given. Homes, and the people in them, have always been looking after our health.
This is a free exhibition, running Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August from 10am to 4pm, no booking is required.
Screening of short film Leisure with Dignity followed by Director’s Q&A (20 August)
In conjunction with the exhibition, Homesick, we are delighted to be screening the short film Leisure with Dignity, followed by a Q&A with the Director, Anne Maree Barry.
Leisure with Dignity combines the artists’ own psychogeographic walking tours of the 'Monto' area in Dublin, to create a film that reflects historical events while at the same time presenting a complex portrait of female empowerment. Four characters: Madam May Oblong, Kitty D, Countess Aldborough and The Custom House establish a dialogue between locality, history, architecture, and the independence of women in a specific time.
Anne Maree consulted RCPI’s archives while researching for this film, examining the recipe book belonging to Countess Aldborough. This recipe book features instructions for making preserves, pickles and cheeses but also includes recipes for various medicines and cures.
This screening will take place on Wednesday 20 August from 1-2pm. This is a free event, but booking is required. You can book your space here.
Investigating the Quin Tassie Collection exhibition (18-22 August)
We are happy to host this new pop-up exhibition focusing on a unique but fascinating part of art and medical history.
The Quin Tassie collection, donated to RCPI in 1926, consists of 26 drawers of miniature gem casts and moulds thought to have been created by James Tassie (1735-1799), the renowned Scottish gem engraver, and his mentor, College President Dr Henry Quin (1717-1791), an important patron of the arts. Tassie settled in London and became one of the most famous producers of this type of object. His reputation was international, and he secured an order from Catherine the Great of Russia.
Imitations of antique gems, like those in this collection, were valuable educational tools for those who wanted to learn about the visual culture of ancient Greece and Rome and were part of the 18th century’s fascination with classical times.
Thanks to the Heritage Centre receiving funding from the Heritage Council’s 2025 Community Grant Scheme, we have been able to organise a full survey and conservation audit of the collection. For more information on the project itself, click here.
We will showcase some of the work done so far in the pop-up exhibition running from Monday 18 August to Friday 22 August, open 10am to 4pm. No booking is required.
