Elizabeth Fort visitors can now avail of self-guided audio tours
Visitors to Cork’s Elizabeth Fort can now avail of self-guided audio tours of the city’s star fort and view new illustrations of Cork in the 17th century in a new permanent exhibition developed as part of an EU project.
The new, permanent, exhibition entitled ‘Walls, Women, Water’ by Deirdre Black & Associates (Oli and Mark Thompson Design) was launched at the fort last week, and tells the story of the development of the fort - and of Cork - through maps, images and text.
It also recounts the tragic story of the 150 female convicts and their children whose tragic last steps on dry land were from Elizabeth Fort to their ill-fated ship, ’The Neva’. In their book, ‘The Wreck of The Neva’, Cal McCarthy and Kevin Todd recount in detail how just six of the women from Elizabeth Fort survived.
A newly-commissioned artwork by archaeological illustrator, Philip Armstrong of ‘Paint the Past’ also forms part of the new exhibit.
Visitors to @ElizabethFort_ have access to self-guided audio tours & can view this amazing c17th illustration of #Cork in a new permanent exhibition developed as part of @interregeurope project @deirdreblack @AbartaGuides @VisitCork_ie @pure_cork
— Cork City Council (@corkcitycouncil) October 5, 2019
ℹ️ https://t.co/i0YYIDVd2N pic.twitter.com/efE8Iou274
The Lord Mayor of Cork, Cllr John Sheehan said the archaeological detail and quality achieved in this new artwork is impressive and will be an attraction in its own right for years to come.
“Working closely with archaeologists in City Hall, Philip has produced a wonderful watercolour depicting Cork between 1624 -26. Visitors to the Fort on Culture Night 2019 enjoyed a sneak preview of the exhibition and this illustration proved particularly popular with Corkonians and tourists alike,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Elizabeth Fort audio tours are now available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and German, with Irish and Italian guides to be added in the coming weeks.
Cork City Council has been a partner in the EU Atlantic Area ‘Maritime, Military and Industrial Atlantic Heritage’ (MMIAH) project, which has provided significant funding towards developing the Elizabeth Fort visitor experience.
