Taoiseach marks major accolade for Nano Nagle Place in Council of Europe Museum Prize win
Taoiseach Micheál Martin paid tribute to the award-winning team responsible for Nano Nagle Place, when he visited the Cork centre on Saturday for a homecoming event to mark its winning of the prestigious Council of Europe Museum Prize 2022. This is the first time an Irish museum has won this award since 1980, when Monaghan County Museum was selected.
The Council of Europe Museum Prize is awarded to a museum that has contributed significantly to upholding human rights and democratic citizenship, to broadening knowledge and understanding of contemporary societal issues and to bridging cultures by encouraging inter-cultural dialogue or overcoming social and political borders. It has been awarded annually since 1977 by the Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media.
Located on the grounds of the South Presentation Convent on Douglas Street in Cork’s south inner city, Nano Nagle Place is dedicated to the life and ethos of Nano Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Sisters who was born in Killavullen. A visionary who saw education as the route out of poverty, especially for girls, Nano established schools throughout Cork city in the 1700s. These schools operated illegally under the Penal Laws.
Apart from her work as an educator, she served the poor of Cork by distributing food and medicine to those most in need. She became known as the ‘Lady of the Lantern’ because she undertook this work by night, using a lantern to guide her through Cork’s unlit streets.
CULTURAL HUB
Situated on the site of her first school in the city, Nano Nagle Place is a place of history, of community, and of serenity in the heart of Cork city. Using objects, text, video and digital, the museum tells Nano’s story through the history of the development of Cork city in the 1700s.
Elsewhere on site, Nano Nagle’s ethos can be seen through the work of the Cork Migrant Centre, which provides services to asylum seekers and refugees to help them to settle into life in Cork, and the Lantern Community Project, which runs community education services for the local inner-city community.
The complex is also home to an 18th Century graveyard, where Nano Nagle is buried, the Presentation Congregation archive and a tranquil walled garden, where Corkonians and visitors alike gather to while away some time. Nano Nagle Place also acts as a cultural hub, regularly hosting Cork’s artists, writers, poets and musicians. This includes the East Cork Early Music Festival, the Cork Decorative & Fine Arts Society, and the Cork Environment Forum.
The Council of Europe Museum Prize aims to highlight Europe’s diverse cultural heritage and the interplay between local and European identities. Previous winners include the GULAG History Museum in Russia; the National Museum of Secret Surveillance “House of Leaves” in Albania, and the War Childhood Museum in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In awarding the 2022 Museum Prize to Nano Nagle Place, the Council of Europe Committee said: “The Committee on Culture, Science, Education and Media not only valued how Nano Nagle Place, in its museum, commemorates the Presentation Sisters’ educational and spiritual work, but also the way the Order continues its founding mission.”
Recognising, the work of the Cork Migrant Centre and the Lantern Community Project, it said: “These initiatives bring Nano Nagle’s quest for equality and social justice to 21st Century Cork.”
‘VERY SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT’
An oasis of calm in the heart of Cork’s south inner city, the site on which Nano Nagle Place is located was for many years hidden from the community behind the convent walls. Nano Nagle Place is now contacting the residents in the local area to offer them free membership of Nano Nagle Place, to encourage them to make Nano Nagle Place a part of their lives.
Commenting, An Taoiseach, Michéal Martin said: “Nano Nagle Place is a wonderful example of community spirit in action. It takes one woman’s determination in the 1700s to provide opportunities for disadvantaged families in Cork – particularly through education for girls – and brings it right through to 21st Century Ireland. I would like to pay tribute to the entire team behind this fabulous facility – to the Presentation Sisters who continue to fulfil Nano Nagle’s mission through the various activities facilitated at Nano Nagle Place, to the staff and volunteers who help to run the centre, to the members of the local community who use the facilities and to the museum team who have so successfully positioned Nano Nagle’s story in the history of Cork and brought it right up to date through the Sisters’ continuing work.
“Winning the Council of Europe Museum Prize is a very significant achievement. Nano Nagle Place is a credit to Cork – and to Ireland – and I wish it continued success.”
During the visit, the Taoiseach was given a tour of the facility, met with staff, the board and members of the local community who enjoy the services and facilities at Nano Nagle Place. He also unveiled the Council of Europe Museum Prize certificate.