The Lord Mayor’s and Lady Mayoress’s Rooms are situated at City Hall which was built in 1936. Here the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress receive guests and visitors including members of community groups, prominent citizens, sports teams, as well as official visits by local, national and foreign dignitaries. On display at the Rooms are the artefacts, gifts and art works, both ancient and modern, which form part of the life and traditions of the First Citizen of Cork.

Amongst the items on display are:

  • A photograph of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese,

  • Paintings of the first republican Lord Mayors Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney, by Thomas Ryan (donated by former Lord Mayor Gerald Goldberg),

  • A photograph of United States President John F.Kennedy receiving the Freedom of Cork City on 28 June 1963 from Lord Mayor Sean Casey and the Members of the City Council,

  • Framed original cheques of the Tomás MacCurtain Memorial Fund, signed by Terence MacSwiney in June 1920,

  • The ‘Dart’, for the ‘throwing of the dart’ ceremony in Cork Harbour,  which takes place every 3 years, a tradition which seems to date back to the 16th century and was concerned with asserting the juristiction of Cork City over the harbour,

  • Large model of the P.S. Sirius, the first steamship to cross the Atlantic from Europe: Cobh to New York in 1838, and whose Captain, Richard Roberts, was awarded Freedom of the City,

  • The Lord Mayor’s Charter from July 1900, giving the title Lord Mayor to the head of the City Council,

  • Official Grant of Arms from the Chief Herald, of the Arms of Cork City, 1949,

  • Bust of President John F.Kennedy, presented to Lord Mayor Micheál Martin by U.S. ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith, on 28 June 1993, to mark the 30th anniversary of the President’s visit to Cork,

  • Drawing of Terence MacSwiney in Army uniform,

  • Printed drawing of the Queen’s College Cork c.1850’s (now University College Cork),

  • Several paintings, drawings, and prints of places in Cork City including a number by local artist William Harrington,

  • Several crystal glass pieces presented to the Lord Mayor,

  • 2 of the silver ceremonial maces, plus medallions and other gifts.

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