The large redbrick building was built in 1724 as the customs house and is now home to Ireland's leading provincial art gallery. An imaginative expansion has added an extra 10,000 square feet of gallery space for visiting exhibitions and adventurous shows of modern Irish artists. The permanent collection includes landscape paintings depicting Cork in the 18th and 19th centuries. Take special note of works by Irish painters William Leech (1881-1968), Daniel Maclise (1806-70), James Barry (1741-1806), and Nathaniel Grogan (1740-1807). The café, run by the Allen family of Ballymaloe, is a good place for a light lunch or a homemade sweet.
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