Culture Night at the NLI
We are joining in the celebrations for Culture Night 2025 and will be open to visitors throughout the evening.
National Library of Ireland , Explore Main Building, 5pm-9pm
In Kildare Street, our doors will be open from 5pm–9pm and everyone is welcome. From 5pm, you can wander into the hall to view the Lego model of the library or explore our William Butler Yeats exhibition. From 6pm- 9pm, take in the stunning surroundings of the Reading Room. Between 7pm and 8pm, St. Mary’s College Singers, led by Director Maria Stanley, will perform a selection of popular music in the Reading Room.
No booking is required to visit the Reading Room or listen to St. Mary's College Singers.
Director's Tour of the National Library, 5pm-6pm
The Director, Dr Audrey Whitty opens Culture Night 2025 at the National Library of Ireland with the Director’s Tour. Discover the history of our beautiful Victorian building on Kildare Street and visit the famous Reading Room and explore our links with some of Ireland’s greatest writers and thinkers. It will also include access to the Art Room, normally open by appointment for readers to consult NLI’s visual collections.
Meet in the Front Hall of the National Library of Ireland, entry free but booking is required. Book here
YEATS: The Life and Works of William Butler Yeats, 5pm-9pm
Sit awhile and listen to some of the poet’s best-loved poems and stroll through the exhibition exploring the many interests of WB Yeats: Ireland, literature, folklore, theatre, politics, the occult – and his significant influence on modern Irish cultural identity.
Our Yeats exhibition will be open in the main building on Kildare Street from 5pm-9pm. No booking required.
For more information regarding accessibility in our buildings please see here.
Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again – Bank of Ireland Cultural and Heritage Centre at College Green, 5pm-9pm
Enjoy a self-guided, ‘after-hours’ tour on Culture Night. Seamus Heaney: Listen Now Again draws on the National Library’s extensive archive of Heaney documents to bring the visitor on a multi-sensory journey from the poet’s humble origins through his remarkable career.
No booking required.
Live Aid Exhibition-National Photographic Archive, Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, 5pm-8.30pm
Live Aid, the “Global Jukebox”, held in London and Philadelphia, attended by over 150,000 audience members in total and broadcast live using cutting edge technology to unite almost 2 billion viewers across 150 countries, raised millions for famine relief in Africa.
For a generation of music fans, watching Live Aid in 1985 was an experience like no other. Share that experience with a special pre-launch Culture Night visit to our new exhibition of photographs, selected from the Band Aid Trust Archive, generously donated to the National Library by Bob Geldof in 2017.
No booking required.
Live Podcast Event with Podcaster in Residence, Zoë Comyns, Joly Theatre, 7pm-8pm
To mark the launch of her residency as the National Library Podcaster in Residence, Zoë Comyns hosts a pop-up collection inspired by treasures from the Library’s archives.
Come along to celebrate the power of words, storytelling and discovery through a live recording featuring short readings, talks and stories. The evening of voices, ideas and inspiration will draw from a rich selection of materials including books, newspapers, journals, prints and drawings, manuscripts and photographs from the National Library’s extraordinary collection, bringing the past to life.
Event hosted in Joly Theatre, Booking Required. Book Here
Please contact info@nli.ie with any queries.
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