Pugin's legacy shown in his `Irish Gem'

The magnificently restored St Aidan's Cathedral in Enniscorthy is showing a photographic exhibition on the work of Augustus Welby…

The magnificently restored St Aidan's Cathedral in Enniscorthy is showing a photographic exhibition on the work of Augustus Welby Pugin.

Self-taught, with no formal qualifications, Pugin became the most influential church architect and designer of the 19th century. He travelled widely from the age of 20 to study and sketch medieval structures, and before he died in 1852, aged only 40, he designed more than 100 notable buildings and a vast range of furnishings and decorative artefacts.

He was the most prominent exponent of the Gothic revival, and there is a concentration of his most outstanding work in the Diocese of Ferns.

St Aidan's is known as Pugin's "Irish Gem", and the exhibition there illustrates the rich heritage he bequeathed. It includes views of many hitherto unseen private locations and outlines the several phases and styles through which his design career developed.

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St Aidan's restoration committee assembled the exhibition, which runs until August 30th.