Cork’s newly regenerated Nano Nagle Place has been hailed by former President Mary McAleese as a “living showcase” of the life, work and legacy of the Presentation Sisters’ founder.
Speaking at the official opening of the €10.5m heritage centre, Dr McAleese said it was “not just a place where Nano Nagle’s history is celebrated but where today’s social issues are tackled”.
Based on the redeveloped former site of the South Presentation Convent and School where Nano Nagle founded the sisters in 1775, Nano Nagle Place houses the congregation archives, and is home to a small community of sisters. It includes a new heritage centre and redeveloped gardens, and is a base for the Lantern Project and Cork Migrants community inclusion projects.
Praising the sisters, Dr McAleese said they had remade the site as “a living showcase of the depth and breadth of Nano Nagle’s work, a place where the history she made is told and the work of care continues in these changed times”.