Monkstown Parish Church has been described as ‘a glorious extravaganza’, ‘a mule between the Gothic and the Saracenic’, a place unsuitable for Christian worship, a ‘perversion of judgement and taste’, a building of originality and beauty, a masterpiece. Outraged critics and ecstatic admirers outdo each other in their adjectival usage, while others use more cautious words like curious, quaint and conspicuous. It has been compared to a chess set, a cruet stand, a sponge cake, combining ‘sumptuousness with oddity’. Readers can form their own conclusions.
€35.00, ISBN 1869857631 h/b
