The Dublin Festival of History will run from 26 September to 12 October 2025, with our Big Weekend at the Round Room at the Mansion House, from Saturday 27 September to Sunday 28 September.
The Dublin Festival of History is an annual free festival, brought to you by Dublin City Council, and organised by Dublin City Libraries, in partnership with the Dublin City Council Culture Company.
Events at the National Botanic Gardens:
Sunday 28th September | Natures Medicine Chest | Guided Tour | 2:00 PM
Explore traditions and customs associated with folk medicine through a selection of well-known native medicinal plants. This themed tour focuses on medicinal plants in the Dublin region.
Sunday 5th October | Howya me auld flower | Lecture | 2:00 PM
Digging deep into the roots of Dublin’s placenames to explore its lost natural environments. From The Cherry Orchard to The Big Tree, this talk will take us on a botanical journey through Dublin’s medieval and prehistoric landscape.
Sunday 12th October | Blight & Bounty | Lecture | 2:00 PM
On 20 August 1845, as the magnificent Curvilinear Range of glasshouses began to take shape in the National Botanic Gardens, curator David Moore spotted something sinister among the potatoes of the vegetable plot: the first instance in Ireland of the blight that would cause the Great Famine. Join us as we tell the story of both sides of Irish society through activities in Glasnevin in the 1840s: a story that reflects both the desperate plight of the majority population and the privilege and interests of those at the top of the Irish social order.
