The building above is the Aula Maxima at University College Cork. The building below is the Custom House. It was built in 1818. The Port of Cork have their offices in this building
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If you need a hint…….. CORK 2 - 0 VICTORIA
St Finbarr sits at the top of the Aula Maxima looking over the President’s Garden at U.C.C. . St Finbarr was sculpted by Seamus Murphy in 1933. St Finbarr is the patron saint of Cork.
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Before St. Finbarr was put on the Aula Maxima, there was a statue there of Queen Victoria. Tamsin Rainford and Kate Skelly in our class are doing their project on U.C. C. and told us that when Queen Victoria was taken down in the 1930’s. Queen Victoria was stored in the East Wing at college but it was too heavy and fell through the floorboards. She was buried in the President’s Garden in 1946. It was dug up in the 1990’s and was on display when Queen Elizabeth visited Cork – but not on top of the Aula Maxima.
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At the top of the Custom House is the Cork Coat of Arms. It says ‘Statio Bene Fida Carinis’ which translates as ‘a safe harbour for ships’. It was put on top of the building in 1957 according to Mr Cadogan’s book.
Before the Cork Coat of Arms on the Custom House, there was Royal Coat of Arms – just like the VR on the postboxes.
from Cork City Council website
There is an old photograph on the Cork City Council website, Cork Past and Present, has an picture of the old Coat of Arms. We have not yet found out what happened to the Coat of Arms and if they were buried like in U.C.C. That might be an investigation for our next project.
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