Muckross House and the Price of Opulence

We stood right before Muckross House, taking in the sheer physical grandeur of the property. But looking at the building while knowing the exact history behind it completely altered how it looked to us. This house stood during a period in time when Ireland was gripped by famine. Instead of spending money to take care of the local residents who were suffering, the Britishers in power decided to spend heavily in this level of pure opulence. Learning that fact brought down the importance of this house in our eyes. The sheer scale of the luxury felt entirely different when we remembered what was happening across the country during that period. It shifted our perspective completely, turning what was built as a grand display of wealth into a reminder of where that money should have actually gone. Eventually, the house was taken over, and we have to praise the Irish government for what they chose to do with it. They opened the entire estate up to the masses for free. Something that was constructed through immense inequality was turned over to everyone without charging an entrance fee. We spent our time taking in the beauty of the place, starting right from the gates, continuing around into the backyard gardens, and stretching out across the sprawling lawns. Walking through those backyard gardens and looking over those sprawling lawns, knowing we were allowed in for free, made us view the whole site in a completely different light.