Image: Niall Huggard
A LANDMARK Killarney hotel has opened a wonderful door to the past after transforming a feature lounge into a remarkable space dedicated to the town’s history.
The Lough Lein Room in the Lake Hotel now captures Killarney’s treasured past in one room with impressive visual displays highlighting the town’s attractions, traditions, characters and legends.
Guests are transported back in time with sepia photographic and text displays in a gallery so vibrant that it almost feels as if it is coming to life.
The potted history, contained in giant framed displays on the walls, features numerous previously unseen old black and white photographs from the hotel’s private collection with accompanying text charting the development of Killarney down through the ages.
The Lake Hotel owners, the Huggard family, recently celebrated 100 years in the hospitality business and they have always been keenly aware of Killarney’s proud history.
The new Lough Lein Room display features some of Killarney’s earliest guide maps, information on hospitality available in the town at the turn of the century, the development of Killarney over the years and progress in the adjoining national park.
Put together by graphic designer Damien Switzer, who worked closely on the project with the hotel’s managing director, Tony Huggard, and general manager Niall Huggard, the wall displays also detail the history of religion in Killarney, business developments, the early days of tourism in Muckross House, Dinis Cottage and the Gap of Dunloe and the changing face of the Killarney streetscape.
There is also information and photographs centered on old fair days in the town, the occupants of the local estate cottages, the life and times of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty and the history of photography in Killarney.
“It looks great and the reaction from guests and locals has been terrific. It really brings Killarney’s past alive and it offers a fascinating glimpse into the past,” Tony Huggard told KillarneyToday.com.
