St Canice’s Cathedral
- St Canice’s CathedralThe Close, Coach Road, Kilkenny
- Website
- +353 56 776 4971
- Wheelchair accessible
St Canice’s Cathedral has been at the heart of Kilkenny Arts Festival since the first edition in 1974, with many of the world's leading artists performing in this ancient space which is at once magnificent and intimate.
The cathedral is unique in Ireland both in retaining the iconic Round Tower from its earlier monastic history and also in its intact Cathedral Close, which includes the old Bishop's Palace, the Deanery, the Bishop's Library, the Organist's Cottage and surrounding lanes, buildings and gardens.
St Canice himself (or Caineach in Irish) established his monastic foundation on the hill in the mid-6th century, when the area was part of the Gaelic kingdom of Ossory (Osraighe). Indeed, the diocese is still named after this ancient realm. The present cathedral (the second-largest medieval church in Ireland after St Patrick's in Dublin) dates from the 13th century and is a marvelous example of the Early English Gothic style, with its rustic stone walls and hammerbeam timber ceiling giving a vernacular warmth and glorious acoustic which the Festival has used to great effect over the last four decades.
Parking
There is no parking available at this venue. Please use nearby St. Canice’s Church and Black Abbey car parks.
Accessibility
This venue is wheelchair friendly. If you require wheelchair seating, please contact the Festival Box Office on +353 56 775 2175.
We have created a social story for our audience members with autism to prepare for their visit. A document with the social stories for all of our venues is available on our accessibility page, as well as many other resources.
While walking up the path from Coach Road you want to look for this archway.
Then, inside the archway will be this door and a table. You can either collect your ticket from the volunteers at it, or if you already have your ticket, a volunteer will check it for you.
Then, if there are assigned seats, a volunteer can help you find your seat. If it is general seating, you get to pick where you sit! You might be in a wooden chair, or on a wooden pew. These pews are old, so you may wish to bring a cushion to make them more comfortable.
The events in St. Canice’s Cathedral can become loud, and the sound can echo off the walls and ceiling. This would be a good venue to bring ear protection to if you are sensitive to loud sounds.
At music events in St. Canice’s, there will be times that the music stops, but no one claps. This is called a movement pause. You can wait until you hear other people clap, so you know if it's a movement pause or if it’s time to clap.
Please note: Toilets are a slightly long walk around the building, so give yourself some time to get there. The volunteers will help direct you to them. Sometimes if you leave in the middle of a performance, you might have to wait for a pause in the music before you can come back in. The volunteers and venue manager will help you with this.