- Royal Cork Institution
Royal Cork Institution was a Irish cultural institution in the city of Cork from 1803-1885. It consisted of a library of scientific works, a museum with old Irish manuscripts and stones with
ogham inscription s, and lecture and reading rooms. [Cite book |last= Black Adam and Charles, ltd |title=Black's tourist guide to Ireland |date=1885 |publisher=Oxford University |pages=134] A lack of funds resulted in its closure in 1885.Origins
The Royal Cork Institution (RCI) was founded by Rev.
Thomas Dix Hincks , a minister of the Old Presbyterian Church on Princes Street in Cork and was modelled on institutions such as theRoyal Dublin Society and theRoyal Society of London . It was incorporated in 1807 and renamed the Royal Cork Institution (RCI). It operated from premises on theSouth Mall opposite the current Imperial hotel and was a British government supported educational centre for 70 years. Its early patrons included businesses and landed people includingWilliam Beamish (1760-1828),William Crawford ,Cooper Penrose (1736-1815) and James Roche (1770-1853). It offered courses, public lectures on science and scientific principles in agricullture and industry. The RCI had a collection of scientific instruments and library of over 5,000 volumes with a private and a public patents collection - a copy of this is in theBoole Library ofUniversity College Cork .Activities
The RCI established the Cork Botanic Gardens in 1806. A shortage of funds in 1828 forced the withdrawal of the RCI, and the property was later to become a cemetery. The RCI was influential in the Government decision to establish the Queen's College in Cork. It published the first volume of the "Munster Farmer's Magazine" in 1812. It also established the
Crawford College of Art and Design , now part of theCork Institute of Technology (CIT ). It was connected with medical schools and gave lectures on anatomy. Lack of funds necessitated the RCI becoming a private society in 1850 and its closure in 1885. Among those associated with the RCI wereRichard Caulfield (at one time its secretary and librarian),Robert Day andAbraham Abell . The RCI had an influential role in the intellectual life of Cork until the CorkCuvierian Society . This in turn was supplanted with the establishment of Queen's College, Cork, in 1849.Canova casts
The RCI acquired these from the Society of Fine Arts in Cork, who were given them by the
Prince Regent laterGeorge IV . He had received them from PopePius VII who had commissionedAntonio Canova to make a set of plasters from statues in the Vatican. The statues are currently in theCrawford Municipal Art Gallery .ee also
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Historic Cork Gardens
*Crawford College of Art and Design References
*Cite book |last=McCarthy |first=Kieran |title=Discover Cork |publisher=O'Brien Pres Limited |date=2003 |isbn=086278817X
*Cite book |last=Cadogan |first=Tim |coauthors=Jeremiah Falvey |title=A Biographical Dictionart of Cork |date=2006 |publisher=Four Courts Press |isbn=1846820308External links
* [http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:DCwpKyjaPaUJ:www.sci.net.au/mgrogan/cork/cork_city_pigot.htm+cork+botanic+gardens+royal+cork+institution&hl=en&gl=ie&ct=clnk&cd=3 Pigot's Directory 1824]
* [http://66.249.93.104/search?q=cache:sFe_uOCripQJ:www.bopcris.ac.uk/eppi/ref12729.html+cork+botanic+gardens+royal+cork+institution&hl=en&gl=ie&ct=clnk&cd=10 Commission on Irish Education 1824]
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