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The credit for this lovely Georgian square goes to Sir Benjamin Mosse, who founded the Rotunda Hospital here. It was considered one of Dublin’s smartest addresses in the 1760s, then its fortunes declined, but it remains home to some fine literary museums and art galleries.

One of the widest streets in Europe, O’Connell Street was designed by Luke Gardiner in the 1740s and was once lined with Classical buildings. Sadly, many of these were destroyed during the Easter Rising and the street has lost the stately appearance of earlier times, but one of its remaining charms is its statues, the most imposing being that of Daniel O’Connell, near O’Connell Bridge.

This magnificent building dominates the northside riverbank. Designed by James Gandon, the 114 m (375 ft) long façade is flanked by pavilioned arcades adorned with the Irish coats of arms. The 14 heads decorating the building represent Ireland’s rivers. Restored in 1991, the building is now used as government offices.

Custom House

Art-lover Hugh Lane spent his life collecting important art, and today the permanent collection includes exceptional 20th-century work by Irish and European artists, including Manet and Degas. A new addition is the English painter Francis Bacon’s London studio.

James Joyce spent much of his early life living to the north of the Liffey so it is a fitting area to house a museum dedicated to the Irish writer. The house, built in 1784, was leased at the turn of the 20th century by Denis J Maginnis, who makes several appearances in Joyce’s epic work Ulysses . There is a fascinating display of the biographical details of 50 of the 300 characters from Ulysses based on real Dubliners.

A mixture of faded parchments and a collection of portraits make up this original little museum. The Georgian proportions of the house are seen at their best on the upper floors, with a grand Gallery of Writers. Downstairs, a taped commentary takes you through Irish literary history, accompanied by photographs, correspondence and first edition works.

The Irish National Theatre was founded at the Abbey Theatre by the Gaelic Revival Movement led by Lady Augusta Gregory and WB Yeats and first opened its doors in 1904. From the outset it had a radical reputation, putting on revolutionary plays such as Sean O’Casey’s The Plough and the Stars . The theatre then went into decline, before being gutted by fire in 1951. It reopened in 1966 as the Abbey and Peacock Theatres. The work performed at the Peacock is more experimental, while the Abbey stages conventional productions and new works.

Designed in 1814 in Neo-Classical style by Francis Johnston, the GPO is one of the city’s most imposing buildings. It was the centre of the aborted Easter Rising in 1916 and the scars of gunfire can still be seen on the Ionic portico. The history of this event can be seen in a sequence of paintings in the foyer by Irish artist Norman Teeling.

The Old Jameson Distillery now exists purely as a museum, but whiskey was first made here in the 1780s and is as much a part of the Irish culture as Guinness (see Guinness Storehouse). The tour goes through the entire process of production, from grain delivery to bottling. At the end of the tour there is a whiskey tasting. The former distillery chimney is now a 67-m (220-ft) high observation platform with outstanding city views.

Originally known as The Assembly Rooms when completed in 1786, the building, designed by the German architect Richard Cassels, was converted into the Gate Theatre by the actors Hilton Edwards and Mícheál MacLiammóir in 1928. It soon established a reputation for high-class European productions, rivalling the Abbey, which concentrated on Irish plays. The Gate has maintained its standing as a venue for new plays but also puts on excellent productions of international and Irish classics.