A spectacular slice of Dublin, off the beaten track in Poland
Nestled in the Silesian Beskids mountains, the pretty Polish village of Ustroń is a popular destination for ramblers, climbers, cyclists and other lovers of the outdoors.
Should any of those visitors happen to hail from Dublin, they may find themselves doing a double-take at the elaborately-decorated village library, housed in a handsome building that dates from 1902.
Yes, that spectacular mural depicts the Long Room at Trinity College, Dublin, home to some 200,000 books as well as treasures including one of the few remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation.
For reference, here's the REAL Long Room:
Library spokesperson Beate Grudzień told us that the mural was painted in 2011 as part of a renovation of the library building.
The idea to paint the Long Room came from the local firm commissioned to turn the wall from this:
...into something a bit more spectacular.
"It took about two months to paint, and five people worked on it," according to Beate.
Here's the work in progress:
And here are more pictures of the finished walls:
"People in Ustroń like this mural very much," said Beate.
"It's a very touristy place - we have many visitors from Poland and from elsewhere who really like it."
However to her knowledge, no Irish visitors have yet commented on the surprise sight of a slice of Dublin history is rural southern Poland, and nobody at the library spoke to anyone in Trinity about the idea.
But why choose that particular image, of that particular place?
Nothing too complicated, Beate explains.
"The main reason for choosing this image is that there is a library in the building."
