Robert O’Byrne
A former Vice-President of the Irish Georgian Society, Robert O’Byrne is today one of Ireland’s best-known writers and lecturers specialising in the country’s historic houses and gardens. He is the author of more than a dozen books, among them Luggala: The Story of a Guinness House; Romantic Irish Homes and The Irish Country House: A New Vision. For many years a contributor to Apollo Magazine, The Burlington Magazine and the Irish Arts Review, during 2021/22 Robert curated a number of events, including exhibitions, lectures and a conference, all on the theme of Ireland’s country house gardens for the Irish Georgian Society. In Autumn 2021, his series on the same subject ‘Ireland’s Historic Gardens’ was shown on Irish television. Since 2012 Robert has written an award-winning blog called The Irish Aesthete chronicling Ireland’s architectural heritage. An exhibition of his photographs was held in the Irish Architectural Archive in December 2022 and in May 2024 a book – The Irish Aesthete: Buildings of Ireland, Lost and Found - was published by Lilliput Press.