MOST POPULAR TOURIST ATTRACTION IN DUBLIN
This is the first time that I have been able to properly photograph this structure even though the FX30 camera is a video-centrice device.
Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over twenty million visitors.
The Storehouse covers seven floors surrounding a glass atrium shaped in the form of a pint of Guinness. The ground floor introduces the beer’s four ingredients (water, barley, hops and yeast), and the brewery’s founder, Arthur Guinness. Other floors feature the history of Guinness advertising and include an interactive exhibit on responsible drinking. The seventh floor houses the Gravity Bar with views of Dublin and where visitors may drink a pint of Guinness included in the price of admission.
The building in which the Storehouse is located was constructed in 1902 as a fermentation plant for the St. James’s Gate Brewery (yeast is added to the brew). It was designed in the style of the Chicago School of Architecture and was the first multi-storey steel-framed building to be constructed in Ireland. The building was used continuously as the fermentation plant of the Brewery until its closure in 1988, when a new fermentation plant was completed near the River Liffey.
In 1997, it was decided to convert the building into the Guinness Storehouse, replacing the Guinness Hop Store as the Brewery’s visitor centre. The redesign of the building was undertaken by the UK-based design firm Imagination in conjunction with the Dublin-based architects firm RKD, and the Storehouse opened to the public on 2 December 2000. In 2006-08 a new wing was developed, and Euro 2.5 million was invested in a live technology-driven multi-media installation demonstrating the modern brewing process for Guinness, which was designed by London-based museum design specialist, Event Communications.
In May 2011, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the Storehouse as part of a state visit to Ireland.
