This sounds like a lovely way to spend a day off.

Crawford Art Gallery has announced it will offer free tours every Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday, starting from Sunday, February 20th at 2pm.

The tour experience will vary from week to week, with expert guides offering fascinating insights, information and the stories behind the artworks and the artists who created them. Spaces on the tours will be available on a first-come, first-served basis with no pre-booking necessary.

Originally built in 1724 as the city’s Customs House, the Gallery is home to the famous Canova Casts, gifted to Cork two centuries ago.

Featured in the Gallery’s collection of over 3,000 objects are well-known and much-loved works by Irish artists James Barry, Harry Clarke, Mainie Jellett, Seán Keating, Daniel Maclise, Norah McGuinness, Edith Somerville, and Jack B. Yeats, as well as contemporary artists Aideen Barry, Gerard Byrne, Maud Cotter, Dorothy Cross, Brian Maguire, Eilis O’Connell, and Hughie O’Donoghue.

The love affair between Cupid and Psyche is one for the ages – albeit complicated by the involvement of the ancient gods!

Ambrose selects the fateful instant in which Psyche holds a lamp above Cupid, seeing him for the first time but on the cusp of losing him forever. pic.twitter.com/mLITtjOd25

— Crawford Art Gallery (@CrawfordArtGall) February 14, 2022

“Tours are a great introduction to the Gallery and will suit everyone, from families and young people, to the more seasoned visitor.” said Marketing and Communications Manager, Dyane Hanrahan.

“You don’t have to have experience of art to enjoy the tours; we encourage people to just give it a try,”

To celebrate St Patrick’s Festival the Gallery will offer tours on Thursday, March 17th, Friday 18th and Sunday 20th at 2pm.