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Following a Community Heritage Grant from the Irish Heritage Council, St Canice’s Cathedral approached Imagineear seeking a multimedia guide to be offered to its visitors.

Kilkenny is a popular tourist destination, situated on Ireland’s Ancient East route, and attracts visitors from all over the world and St Canice is its patron saint. St Canice’s Cathedral wanted to upgrade its on-site interpretation with a digital guide, available both on devices and via a web app for smartphones.

The cathedral has a rich history, originally a monastic settlement founded in 500 AD and named in honour of St Canice.  Boasting Ireland’s oldest surviving Round Tower, dated 1111, the cathedral was constructed between 1205 and 1285 and is said to be the best-preserved medieval cathedral in Ireland. Imagineear’s tour script needed to incorporate this rich history, combined with stories of witches, earls, bishops, monks, bellringers and much more. 

Emma Thompson, Imagineear’s Senior Account Manager and resident in Ireland, undertook full research, interviewing, scriptwriting, photography and production for the guide. 

Imagineear produced a tour in multiple languages featuring interviews with cathedral staff, including: The Dean of St Canice’s; Harry Meehan, Director of Music and Ian McCullough, Tower Captain of St Canice’s Society of Change Ringers.

The tour is expected to be enjoyed by 53,000 visitors in 2023 alone, from the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia, as well as by domestic visitors.

“Earlier this year we acquired funding from the Heritage Council under their grant scheme Community & Heritage. We wanted to bring our story to life through audio. We went out to a few different companies but what Imagineear came back with meant we were delighted to offer them our project. We like their approach to the project and past works they had done with similar sites like us. We knew they would understand us,” said Anne Marie Hallinan, Manager of St Canice’s Cathedral.

“From the beginning, dealing with Emma, Tyrone and Ivan was a pleasure. They took the time to visit, listen to what we wanted, get involved in our story and help us to tell it back in a professional and beautiful way. From start to finish the whole process was seamless.

“Now that the project is complete and both audio guides and downloadable version are in action, we are looking forward to seeing and hearing what our visitors have to say, so far feedback has been great. We are also glad that we have a management contract with Imagineear so going forward we know if we have any difficulties, they will be there to help us.”