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heritage · Sunday 16 August 2026 · 2:00pm 
Cork LGBT Archive Open Day - Heritage Week 2026
At Crawford Business Park · Crawford Business Park, Cork City
At Crawford Business Park · Crawford Business Park, Cork City
The Cork LGBT Archive opens its doors to the public on Saturday 16 August as part of National Heritage Week 2026. Founded in 2013 by Orla Egan and now a company in its own right, the archive exists to make Cork’s queer history impossible to ignore - gathering documents, photographs, film, ephemera and personal material that would otherwise be lost. This open day is a rare chance to step inside the working archive, see how community history is collected and cared for, and engage with the people who keep it alive. It suits anyone with a curiosity about Cork’s past, researchers, students, or anyone who has lived part of that history themselves.
The archive is based at Crawford Business Park on Bishop Street and opens its workspace for the full three hours. Volunteers will be on hand to walk you through the collections, explain the archive’s work, and answer questions. Exhibitions of Cork LGBT history materials will be on display - drawn from the archive’s holdings of photographs, publications, campaign materials, and personal records spanning decades of community life in the city. Past projects have included exhibitions, the Cork Queeros programme, Diary of an Activist, and the LOAFERS documentary - so there is a good sense of what community-held archives can produce when the material is properly preserved. If you have items at home - old posters, newsletters, photographs, personal correspondence - volunteers welcome donations on the day and can advise on what the archive is actively looking for. No booking is needed; just turn up during the open hours.
Cork city is well connected by road and public transport. From Dublin, the M7/M8 motorway runs south and the journey takes around two and a half hours. Bus Eireann and Citylink both run regular coaches from Dublin, Limerick, and Galway to Cork Bus Station on Parnell Place, which is a short walk from the city centre. Cork Kent train station is on the Mallow line and connected to Dublin Heuston, Limerick, and Tralee. Crawford Business Park is on Bishop Street, close to the South Mall area of Cork city. Parking is available on and around Bishop Street and in nearby multi-storey car parks in the city centre.
Cork city repays a longer visit - the English Market, the Crawford Art Gallery on Emmet Place, and the Lee-side streets of the old city centre are all within easy reach of Bishop Street. There is more to see in Cork and across Co. Cork.
Heading to Crawford Business Park in Cork? Cork has plenty more to see. Read the Cork area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.