Galway Cathedral

To look at Galway Cathedral you could be mistaken for thinking that this dignified limestone construction is centuries old. In truth it was begun in 1958 and completed in 1965, on the site of Galway’s old city prison. The architecture is a big jumble, and has Romanesque influences in its plain walls and narrow semi-circular window arches, Gothic in its traceried rose above the main portal, and Renaissance in its barrel vault and magnificent dome reminiscent of Il Duomo di Firenze.

The windows are the work of British stained glass artist Patrick Pollen, who also produced a mosaic depicting the crucifixion and St Joseph the Worker, while the German-Irish sculptor Imogen Stuart created animage of the Virgin Mary.