Culture of Cork City

pulation, although the city still has a Jewish quarter and synagogue. Cork also features various Christian churches, as well as amosque. Some Catholic masses around the city are said in Polish, Filipino, Lithuanian, Romanian and other languages, in addition to the traditional Latin and local Irish and English languages.

Recent additions to the arts infrastructure include modern additions to Cork Opera House and the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery. The new Lewis Glucksman Gallery opened in the Autumn of 2004 at UCC, was nominated for the Stirling Prize in the United Kingdom, and the building of a new €60 million School of Music was completed in September 2007. Construction of the€50 million Brookfield UCC Medical School complex was completed in 2005.

Cork was the European Capital of Culture for 2005, and in 2009 was included in the Lonely Planet's top 10 "Best in Travel 2010". The guide described Cork as being "at the top of its game: sophisticated, vibrant and diverse".

There is a rivalry between Cork and Dublin, similar to the rivalry between London and Manchester, Sydney and Melbourne or Madrid and Barcelona. Corkonians generally view themselves as different to the rest of Ireland, and refer to themselves as "The Rebels"; the county is known as the Rebel County. This distinctly Corkonian view has in recent years manifested itself in humorous references to the region asThe People's Republic of Cork. Citizens of the Real Capital can be seen adorning themselves with t-shirts and other items which celebrate The People's Republic of Cork, printed in various languages, including English, Irish,Polish, Spanish and Italian.

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