By Sarah Mac Donald - 19 June, 2015
Restored St Mel’s Cathedral in Longford has been chosen by the public as Ireland’s favourite building of 2015.
The €30m restoration project of the cathedral was one of 36 architectural projects shortlisted for the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland’s public choice award for this year.
The Public Choice Award allows the public to vote for their favourite shortlisted project, and the most popular selection is then deemed to be Ireland’s favourite building of the year.
This year’s result was announced live on RTE Radio’s Morning Ireland programme on Thursday.
Also in contention for the award were projects such as the Rosie Hackett Bridge in Dublin, Tullamore Distillery, the Fire Restaurant and Lounge at the Mansion House in Dublin and another church, the reinstatement & re-ordering after a fire of St Catherine’s, Meath Street in Dublin.
More than 100,000 people have visited St Mel’s Cathedral since it re-opened last Christmas five years after it was burnt to a shell on Christmas Day 2009.
Architects Fitzgerald, Kavanagh and partners, designed the remodelled interior.
Speaking just before its reopening, Bishop Francis Duffy of Ardagh & Clonmacnois said the restoration project had been a story of “transformation from a shell to a beautiful and elegant sacred space”.
