St Nicholas de Myra Church

Saint Nicholas of Myra is an impressive classical church, designed by John Leeson in the late 1820s with the portico and bell tower added in the second half of the nineteenth century to designs by John Bourke.  Its siting well back from Francis Street reflects that fact that it replaced an earlier chapel shown on Roque’s map (1756). It was one of the first churches constructed in Dublin following Catholic Emancipation, and the imposing scale and form reflects the new-found confidence of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.

The highly decorative interior is of artistic interest, not least for stained glass windows by Earley & Co. and by Harry Clarke, and sculpture by John Hogan. The imposing scale of the building make it a notable additional to the architectural heritage of Francis Street and the copper domed bell tower can be seen from a distance. The site is of archaeological importance as the location of a Franciscan Friary founded before 1233, replaced by the seventeenth-century chapel.

The church is only open before and after mid-morning masses and on Sundays.