The History of the Five lamps Festival

This year is most definitely a special year in Dublin. As we celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, other celebrations must feel like they’re being slightly overlooked. Well, we here at The T-Shirt Company would like to bring some attention to a festival that's very close to our hearts, because it runs in our backyard and we’ve printed the t-shirts!

  The Five Lamps Arts Festival has been running since 2007. It aims to promote community development and social inclusion through the arts, showcasing the uniqueness of this area, its people and history. The festival has been growing steadily since and in 2015 it promoted 43 shows in 17 different venues in the locality. The festival's name is derived from the famous decorative Five Lamps post at the junction of five streets in North Strand, close to the area which was infamously bombed by a stray German Luftwaffe in 1941.

Things to do at the Five Lamps Festival

The cultural activities that the festival has encouraged can be seen as a reflection of this neighbourhood’s up and coming status; with businesses like The Five Lamps Dublin Brewery, Da Mimmo and ourselves, thriving, and more businesses opening soon. Thanks to the bustling IFSC just around the corner, the overflow of investment and influx of peoples from all over the world is rejuvenating the area and creating a cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Culturally, we can expect that most productions in Ireland will be based around the centenary celebrations this year and the Five Lamps festival is no different. Highlights of this year's catalogue of events include Joe O'Byrne's play, 'The Rising' at the magnificent Liberty Hall theatre and James Joyce's, ‘Nighttown’, designed by artist Robert Ballagh and directed by Joe O'Byrne. If you have time, why not check out the Five Lamps Enterprise Photographic Exhibition, you might even see a photo of The T-Shirt Company's very own director looking dashing and handsome.

If you're still hungry for more Easter Rising history take a brief stroll up Amiens Street to the famous Cleary’s pub where Michael Collins and the crew would meet to plan and organise their campaign against British occupation. This historical nugget was immortalised in the 1996 Hollywood blockbuster, 'Liam Neeson', sorry, 'Michael Collins’. So sit where the Big Fellah sat and a enjoy a pint of the black stuff (although he was most likely drinking Murphy's, the rebel). Trust us, they do a fine pint in Cleary's.