Limerick (/ˈlɪmərɪk/;[5] Irish: Luimneach [ˈl̪imʲɨnʲəx]) is a city in County Limerick, Ireland. It is located in the Mid-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. Limerick City and County Council is the local authority for the city. The city lies on the River Shannon, with the historic core of the city located on King's Island, which is bounded by the Shannon and the Abbey River. Limerick is also located at the head of the Shannon Estuary where the river widens before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.  With a population of 94,192 (2016 census), Limerick is the third most populous urban area in the state, and the fourth most populous city on the island of Ireland.
Geography and political subdivisions
The Limerick City Metropolitan District had a population of 104,952.[6] On 1 June 2014 following the merger of Limerick City and County Council a new Metropolitan District of Limerick was formed within the united council which extended the city area. The Metropolitan District includes the city urban area and extends outwards towards Patrickswell in the west and Castleconnell in the east.[7] The City Metropolitan Area however excludes city suburbs located within County Clare.
Limerick is one of the constituent cities of the Cork–Limerick–Galway corridor which has a population of 1 million people. It is located at a strategic position on the River Shannon with four main crossing points near the city centre. To the south of the city is the Golden Vale, an area of rich pastureland. Historically, much of the city's industry was based on this rich agricultural hinterland and it is particularly noted for Limerick Ham.
History

Ancient and medieval history
Luimneach originally referred to the general area along the banks of the Shannon Estuary known as Loch Luimnigh. The earliest settlement in the city, Inis Sibhtonn, was the original name for King's Island during the pre-Viking and Viking eras. This island was also called Inis an Ghaill Duibh, "The Dark-(haired) Foreigner's Island". The name is recorded in Viking sources as Hlymrekr.
The city dates from 812 which is the earliest probable settlement; however, history suggests the presence of earlier settlements in the area surrounding King's Island, the island at the historical city centre. Antiquity's map-maker, Ptolemy, produced in 150 the earliest map of Ireland, showing a place called "Regia" at the same site as King's Island. History also records an important battle involving Cormac mac Airt in 221 and a visit by St. Patrick in 434 to baptise an Eóganachta king, Carthann the Fair. Saint Munchin, the first bishop of Limerick died in 652, indicating the city was a place of some note. In 812 the Vikings sailed up the Shannon and pillaged the city, burned the monastery of Mungret but were forced to flee when the Irish attacked and killed many of their number.[8] The Normans redesigned the city in the 12th century and added much of the most notable architecture, such as King John's Castle and St Mary's Cathedral.[9]
In early medieval times Limerick was at the centre of the Kingdom of Thomond which corresponds to the present day County Clare, the Kingdom also included North Kerry and parts of South Offaly. One of the kingdom's most notable kings was Brian Boru, ancestor of the O'Brien Clan of Dalcassians. The word Thomond is synonymous with the region and is retained in place names such as Thomondgate, Thomond Bridge & Thomond Park.
Late Renaissance/Early modern history

Limerick in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was often called the most beautiful city in Ireland. The English-born judge Luke Gernon, a resident of Limerick, wrote in 1620 that at his first sight of the city he had been amazed at its magnificence: "lofty buildings of marble, like the Colleges in Oxford".[10]
During the civil wars of the 17th century the city played a pivotal role, besieged by Oliver Cromwell in 1651 and twice by the Williamites in the 1690s. The Treaty of Limerick ended the Williamite war in Ireland which was fought between supporters of the Catholic King James II (Jacobites) and the Protestant King William of Orange (Williamites). The treaty offered toleration to Catholicism and full legal rights to Catholics that swore an oath of loyalty to William III and Mary II. The Treaty was of national significance as it ensured closer British and Protestant dominance over Ireland. The articles of the Treaty protecting Catholic rights were not passed by the Protestant Irish Parliament which rather updated the Penal Laws against Catholics which had major implications for Irish history. Reputedly the Treaty was signed on the Treaty Stone, an irregular block of limestone which once served as a mounting block for horses. This stone is now displayed on a pedestal at Clancy Strand. Because of the treaty, Limerick is sometimes known as the Treaty City. This turbulent period earned the city its motto: Urbs antiqua fuit studisque asperrima belli (An ancient city well studied in the arts of war).
The peace times that followed the turmoil of the late 17th Century allowed the city to prosper through trade in the late 18th century. During this time Limerick Port established itself as one of Ireland's major commercial ports exporting agricultural produce from one of Ireland's most fertile areas, the Golden Vale, to Britain and America.[11] This increase in trade and wealth, particularly amongst the city's merchant classes saw a rapid expansion of the city as Georgian Limerick began to take shape. This gave the city its present-day look including the extensive terraced streets of fine Georgian townhouses which remain in the city centre today. The Waterford and Limerick Railway linked the city to the Dublin–Cork railway line in 1848 and to Waterford in 1853. The opening of a number of secondary railways in the subsequent decades developed Limerick as a regional centre of communications.  However, the economic downturn in the European conflicts of the French Revolution and Napoleonic eras, and following the Act of Union 1800, and the impact of the Great Irish Famine of 1848 caused much of the 19th Century to be a more troubled period.
20th-century history
The Limerick boycott was an economic boycott waged against the small Jewish community for over two years in the first decade of the twentieth century. It was accompanied by a number of assaults, stone throwing and intimidation, which caused many Jews to leave the city. It was instigated in 1904 by a Redemptorist priest, Father John Creagh.
During the Irish War of Independence, the Limerick Soviet was a self-declared soviet that existed from 15 to 27 April 1919. A general strike was organised by the Limerick Trades and Labour Council, as a protest against the British Army's declaration of a "Special Military Area" under the Defence of the Realm Act, which covered most of Limerick city and a part of the county. During the strike a special strike committee was set up to print their own money, control food prices and publish newspapers.
By the mid-20th century, Limerick was characterised by economic stagnation and decline as many traditional industries closed or left the city. However, there were some success stories. In 1942 Shannon Airport (located in County Clare, 20km west of the city) opened for the first time offering transatlantic flights. In 1959, Shannon Airport enabled the opening of the Shannon Free Zone which attracted a large number of multinational companies to the region. A long campaign for a third level educational institute to be located in the city finally bore fruit with the establishment of NIHE Limerick in 1969 which eventually became the University of Limerick in 1989.
Government and politics

Historical populationYearPop.±%16593,105—182159,045+1801.6%183166,554+12.7%184148,391−27.3%185148,785+0.8%186143,924−10.0%187139,353−10.4%188138,562−2.0%189137,155−3.6%190138,151+2.7%191138,518+1.0%192639,448+2.4%193641,061+4.1%194642,970+4.6%195150,820+18.3%195651,666+1.7%196151,732+0.1%196658,082+12.3%197157,161−1.6%197960,665+6.1%198160,736+0.1%198656,279−7.3%199152,083−7.5%199652,039−0.1%200254,023+3.8%200659,790+10.7%201156,779−5.0%[12][13][14][15][16][17]
The local government area of Limerick city is under the jurisdiction of Limerick City and County Council. The Council has responsibility for local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing in the city. The council comprises elected ward Councillors with an appointed full-time CEO as the city (and county) manager. Local elections are held every five years and the Councillors annually elect a Cathaoirleach or chairman to chair the council. The current Cathaoirleach is Cllr Liam Galvin from the Newcastle West electoral area.[18] The 21 Councillors from the 3 electoral districts in the City Metropolitan Area also elect a mayor to represent the city. The Mayoral position is largely ceremonial and has much reduced responsibility following the merger of the Limerick local authorities. Although the Mayor is the city's first citizen, within the council the position is below that of the Cathaoirleach. The current mayor is Councillor Jerry O'Dea.[19] Former well-known mayors include TDs Donogh O'Malley, Stephen Coughlan, Michael Lipper, Jim Kemmy and Jan O'Sullivan.[20]
Throughout most of the city's history; from 1197 when it gained its first charter, Limerick City had its own local government authority, Limerick Corporation later known as Limerick City Council. The council was one of the oldest in Ireland and was only exceeded in age by Dublin City Council. In October 2012 the Government of Ireland published Putting People First- Action Programme for Effective Local Government which set out Government policy for reforms across all the main areas of local government in Ireland. Among the recommendations was the merging of Limerick City Council with Limerick County Council. The changes came into effect on 1 June 2014 following the implementation of the Local Government Reform Act 2014.[21]
By the 1960s onwards the city had outgrown its boundary considerably; the city boundary was only altered slightly and never reflected the overall urban area of the city. A limited boundary extension on the city's north side in 2008 enlarged the city boundary by 1,020 hectares increasing the city's area by almost 50% and raising the population by an estimated 7,000.[22] The previous boundary, encompassing 2,086 hectares, was delineated in 1950. Newer suburban districts such as Dooradoyle, Castletroy – including the University, Gouldavoher, and Raheen were continually administered to by Limerick County Council until the merger of the two authorities in June 2014. This local government structure in Limerick caused a number of inefficiencies, most notably in the area of planning. A number of suburbs such as Westbury and Parteen to the north of the city are governed by Clare County Council.
Following the merger of the two authorities in 2014 a new Metropolitan District of Limerick City was set up that included the city urban area and also settlements close to the city such as Patrickswell and Castleconnell. The Metropolitan district returns 21 Councillors to Limerick City and County Council which in total has 40 Councillors returned from across Limerick City and County.[23] The Limerick City Metropolitan District is divided into 3 wards or electoral areas which are; Limerick City East, Limerick City North and Limerick City South which elect eight, six and seven Councillors respectively[23][24]
Fianna Fáil is the largest party on the united authority with 13 seats followed by Fine Gael with 12, Sinn Féin have 6, Anti-Austerity Alliance, Labour & Independents have 3 seats each.[25]
For national Dáil elections Limerick City is in the Limerick City constituency. From 2011, the constituency boundaries changed in accordance with the proposals of the Constituency Commission and the subsequent Electoral (Amendment) Act 2009. This changed the electoral boundaries from Limerick East and Limerick West to Limerick City and Limerick. Limerick city encompasses the city, the suburban areas of Castletroy and as far east as Castleconnell. It also includes part of south County Clare. The Limerick county constituency takes in most of the rest of the county. For European parliament elections Limerick is in South Ireland.
Climate
Limerick's climate is classified as temperate oceanic (Köppen Cfb). Met Éireann maintains a climatological weather station at Shannon Airport, 20 kilometres west of the city in County Clare. Shannon Airport records an average of 977 millimetres of precipitation annually, most of which is rain. Limerick has a mild climate, with the average daily maximum in July of 20°C (68°F) and the average daily minimum in January of 3°C (37°F). The highest temperature recorded was 32.0°C (89.6°F) in June 2018, and the lowest −11.4°C (11.5°F) in 2010. Limerick is the cloudiest city in the state, averaging only 1,295 sunshine hours annually, 3.5 hours of sunshine every day. There are on average 59 days of no recordable sunshine, 6 days of thunder, 19 days of hail and 8 days of snow per year. Shannon Airport is located by the ocean at an elevation of 14 metres, so snow is less common at the station than in the city itself.

Culture

In 2014, Limerick became Ireland's inaugural National City of Culture, with a wide variety of artistic and cultural events occurring at various locations around the city throughout the entire year.
The Limerick City Gallery of Art on Pery Square is the city's chief venue for contemporary art exhibitions. It is home to a permanent collection of Irish art, which shows works from the early 18th to 20th century. The gallery houses the National Collection of Contemporary Drawing founded by the artist Samuel Walsh in 1987. Limerick's major contemporary art event is EVA International, Ireland's Biennial of Contemporary Art.[27] EVA International (formerly EV+A – Exhibition of Visual+ Art) is curated by a new guest curator every two years and includes contemporary artworks by both international and Irish artists. The centre of the exhibition is the Limerick City Gallery of Art, but EVA generally uses numerous other venues throughout the city including public spaces.
The Lime Tree Theatre officially opened at the Mary Immaculate College campus on 30 October 2012. The modern venue is able to host theatre, music, comedy, traditional arts, schools' performances and conferences.[28]
The Belltable Arts Centre on O'Connell Street (in liquidation as of February 2013)[29] hosts for local playwriting and drama. Mike Finn's numerous plays have been successful, including Pigtown, set around a century of the city's history, and Shock and Awe, an energetic retelling of Homer's Iliad. The University Concert Hall located in UL is a 1,000 seat venue and provides a large venue for national and international acts to visit the city. Limerick is also the home of street theatre companies, including "The Umbrella Project".
Limerick is also well catered for when it comes to literature. The Limerick Writers' Centre was established in 2008 and is responsible for a broad range writing activities in the city. Limerick has long been famous for its passion for arts, culture and heritage and you only have to look at some of its natives, which include Pulitzer Prize winning author, Frank McCourt; novelists Kate O'Brien, Michael Curtin and lately Kevin Barry and Donal Ryan. Limerick poets have also contributed widely to its literary heritage with Michael Hogan, Desmond O'Grady, John Liddy…the list goes on and on, proving that literature and writing is one of the major creative activities that the Treaty City can be proud of.
Other active Limerick arts groups include Contact Studios, which provides individual studio spaces for visual artists; the Daghdha Dance Company, a contemporary dance company that has adopted a renovated church in John's Square, adjacent to St John's Cathedral, as a performance space); the Fresh Film Festival, which is held each spring, and includes films made by young people (7–18 years) from all over Ireland; Impact Theatre Company; and Limerick Printmakers Studio and Gallery, which provides printmaking facilities, a venue for exhibitions and events and an education programme. The Limerick Youth Theatre provides young people with an opening into acting and production. It received attention in the national media with its 2005 production of Romeo and Juliet, which made comparisons between the ongoing feud in the city with that of the Montagus and the Capulets in the play.
The Irish Chamber Orchestra and the Irish World Music Centre are both based in the University of Limerick. The university has a thousand-seat state-of-the-art concert hall that frequently hosts visiting performers. The city has an active music scene, which has produced bands such as The Cranberries and guitarist Noel Hogan's MonoBand, The Hitchers and many more. World-renowned electronic musician Richard D. James, more commonly known as Aphex Twin, was born in Limerick in 1971. The Limerick Art Gallery and the Art College cater for painting, sculpture and performance art of all styles.
Limerick is also home to comedians The Rubberbandits, D'Unbelievables (Pat Shortt and Jon Kenny) and Karl Spain. Dolan's Warehouse on the Dock Road has two venues specialising in live music; an upstairs venue which tends to accommodate comedians and folk and jazz acts, and a much larger warehouse venue holding 400, which tends to stage more popular (usually rock) acts, both national and international. Dance music is catered for at Baker Place which holds mainly local underground nights and Trinity Rooms which has regularly hosts big names like Hot Chip, Groove Armada, DJ Yoda and Jazzy Jeff alongside more cutting-edge names like Dan Le Sac, Christian Smith, and Missill.
The city is the setting for Frank McCourt's memoir Angela's Ashes and the film adaptation. The Frank McCourt Museum situated in Frank's former school on Hartsonge Street opened in 2011 and contains many artefacts from the book.[30] Limerick has also been the setting or location for a number of other films, including the dramas The Real Thing (2002), Cowboys & Angels (2003) and Lost & Found (2015).[31][32][33]
Riverfest is an annual summer festival held in Limerick. The festival was begun in 2004. The 2014 festival was held from 2 to 5 May and had a record 80,000 visitors.[34][35]
Humorous verse
A limerick is a type of humorous verse of five lines with an AABBA rhyme scheme: the poem's connection with the city is obscure, but the name is generally taken to be a reference to Limerick city or County Limerick,[36][37] sometimes particularly to the Maigue Poets, and may derive from an earlier form of nonsense verse parlour game that traditionally included a refrain that included "Will [or won't] you come (up) to Limerick?"[38] The earliest known use of the name "Limerick" for this type poem is an 1880 reference, in a Saint John, New Brunswick newspaper, to an apparently well-known tune.[39]
Media
Broadcasting
RTÉ lyric fm, a state-run classical music radio station and part of RTÉ, broadcasts nationally from studios in the city centre. Limerick's local radio station is Live 95FM, broadcasting from 'Radio House', near the waterfront at Steamboat Quay. Spin South West, owned by Communicorp, broadcasts to Counties Kerry, Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and southwest Laois from its studios at Landmark Buildings in the Raheen Industrial Estate. Student radio station, Wired FM, broadcasts on 99.9FM from Mary Immaculate College. Wired FM also has studios in Limerick Institute of Technology.  Limerick Regional Hospital has a radio station on 94.2FM, but this can be heard only in the hospital and surrounding area. West Limerick 102 is broadcast from Newcastle West. The national broadcaster, RTÉ, has radio studios in the city, which are periodically used to broadcast programming from Limerick.
Print
Several local newspapers are published in the city, including The Limerick Post and The Limerick Leader and magazines include the Limerick Event Guide, Business Limerick and Limerick Now.
Places of interest

Limerick City is a main tourist destination, only a 15-minute drive from Shannon Airport. Tourist attractions of architectural and historical note in the city centre include Limerick City Museum, King John's Castle (1210), St Mary's Cathedral (1168), the Hunt Museum, the University of Limerick, Georgian houses and gardens and the Treaty Stone.  There are several seasonal tours, including Angela's Ashes walking tour of Limerick City, historical walking tour, and boat tours along the River Shannon.
The city centre is divided between the traditional areas of "English Town" on the southern end of King's Island, which includes the King John's Castle; "Irish Town", which includes the older streets on the south bank; and the current economic centre further south, called "Newtown Pery".[40] Newtown Pery was built in the late 18th century before the Act of Union and, unusually for an Irish city and unique in Limerick, is laid out on a grid plan. The Limerick City Museum (formerly aka the Jim Kemmy Municipal Museum), is located in Istabraq Hall, City Hall, Merchant's Quay. It contains displays on Limerick's history and manufactures.[41]

The Georgian core of the city, with fine Georgian architecture in the Newtown Pery, was developed from the mid 18th century. This core includes O'Connell Street (George Street before Independence) from the Cecil Street intersection running to the south west end of the Crescent, and south-east to Pery Street including Glentworth Street and Barrington Street. Other architectural buildings of architectural note in the city are St John's Cathedral, designed by the notable Victorian architect, Philip Charles Hardwick. St Mary's Cathedral, at over 800 years old, is one of the oldest in Ireland. St John's Cathedral, whilst more modern, has Ireland's tallest spire at 94m (308ft).[42]
One of Ireland's most celebrated museums, the Hunt Museum, is based in the historic 18th-century former Custom House. The museum was established to house an internationally important collection of approximately 2000 works of art and antiquities formed by John and Gertrude Hunt during their lifetimes. On display are the 9th century Antrim Cross, a sketch by Picasso and a bronze sculpture of a horse, said to be from a design by Leonardo da Vinci.
The main park in Limerick is the People's Park which was opened in 1877 in memory of Richard Russell, a prominent local business man. The park is dominated by the Thomas Spring Rice memorial (MP for the city 1820–1832) and has a large collection of mature deciduous and evergreen trees.
Limerick city centre changed significantly with the construction of several modern high-rise buildings in the early 2000s, in particular as part of the regeneration of the former docks area along the Dock Road. The suburban areas, where the majority of the population now live, have grown out from the centre along the main roads to Ennis (North Circular and Ennis Road areas/Caherdavin), Dublin (Castletroy and the University) and Cork (Ballinacurra/Dooradoyle/Raheen). Suburban houses are generally two-floor semi-detached homes for single families. These were built from the 1950s onwards in large estates by government projects and commercial developments, although there are many examples of Edwardian and older 1930s suburban homes on the main suburban thoroughfares leading towards the city (North & South Circular, Ballinacurra Road, O'Connell Avenue).

Currently tourism is growing, with over 1,000 new beds being opened in the city in 2006 thanks to the opening of five new hotels. The city provides visitors with "Street Ambassadors", people designated to help others around and make their stay more enjoyable. Limerick City has a vibrant nightlife, with numerous nightclubs and pubs giving a range of drinking experiences from the warm and cosy to cutting edge. Dolan's Warehouse is a popular small concert venue that hosts many local, national and international folk, indie, jazz and rock acts. It is also an established venue for traditional Irish music.
In County Limerick, Adare village and the Foynes Flying Boat Museum, approximately 35km (22 miles/30 minutes) from Limerick City along the scenic coastal N69 route from Limerick to Tralee, are also popular attractions. Bunratty Castle in Co. Clare is another local attraction of national significance. It is situated 15.4km north of the city. Limerick is known to be the antipodes to the Campbell Islands of New Zealand.[43]
Demographics
Limerick is officially the third largest city in Ireland (after Dublin and Cork) with a population of 94,192 (urban)/104,952 (metropolitan) according to the 2016 census carried out by the CSO.[6] The past census reported a large population decline in central city areas due in part to the Limerick regeneration process where in these areas the largest reduction was reported nationally and also to outward migration following the collapse of the local and national economy from 2008 onwards.[44] The population of the Limerick Larger Urban Zone as defined by the EU is 162,413.[4] Limerick has a notably ethnically diverse population, and a large immigrant community, which saw especially rapid growth during the Celtic Tiger and the following decade. The Polish community is the second largest outside Dublin, with an estimated 10,000 living and working in the city. Ireland's first Polish bank opened in 2007.[45] The African community has set up a number of churches, which are now part of the cultural makeup of the city.[46]
Limerick has a large stock of local authority housing. Prior to the merger of Limerick City and County Council 41% of all housing within the old Limerick City Council boundary was local authority, which was the highest in Ireland. This figure is however no longer accurate given the larger metropolitan district of the city.[47]
Economy

Limerick is at the heart of the region dubbed "the Midwest". Also known as the "Shannon Region", this is primarily an economic and social concept. The region encompasses County Limerick, County Clare, North County Tipperary, Northwest County Kerry and south Offaly, with its focal point centred on Limerick and its environs within an 8-kilometre (5mi) radius.
The area is possibly the main economic region outside Dublin and Cork. Its economic success has been driven in part by the University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology, Shannon Airport in Co. Clare and Shannon Development (an economic development agency), whose precursor was SFADCO (Shannon Free Airport Development Company), an economic agency that provided tax incentives to companies locating in the area surrounding Shannon Airport. As of 2006 Shannon Development is mostly concerned with disposing of valuable industrial park properties. Limerick Chamber of Commerce, the voice of business in the region, is a thriving organisation. Limerick Chamber celebrated its bicentennial/bicentenary in 2015.
Historically Limerick was an agricultural commodity-driven economy, due to its position as the first major port along the River Shannon. By the middle of the 18th century, Limerick Port grew to become one of Ireland's principal commercial ports, exporting agricultural produce from the most fertile tracts in Ireland known as the Golden Vale as well as produce from the surrounding counties.[11] The city was one of the main meat processing areas in Ireland, and industry included confectionery and flour production. The city was known for its Bacon Industry however this went into decline in the mid 20th Century. The fishing industry in Limerick, based on Clancy's Strand opposite King John's Castle and at Coonagh nearby, once employed hundreds of men.[48] The boat most commonly used was the Gandelow which was also used as a small Lighter (barge) to ferry goods to and from larger ships in the port.[49] In the 1920s the construction of a dam at Ardnacrusha severely impacted salmon breeding and that, and the introduction of quotas, had by the 1950s caused salmon fishing to diminish.[50] By 2006, most fishermen had relinquished their drift net licences and the industry can now be said to be dormant.[51]
In line with the changing economic landscape in Ireland, many multinational companies are based in Limerick, and today the city is a growing recipient of foreign direct investment outside Dublin.[52] Dell had its main European Manufacturing Facility at the Raheen Business Park however in January 2009 Dell announced that it would close its Limerick computer manufacturing plant and move the production lines to Poland.[53] The facility was the largest Dell manufacturing plant outside the United States and produced 30,000–60,000 units per day for export to the EMEA. Dell remains one of the largest employers in the mid-west with over 1,000 people employed in service and support.[54] Analog Devices has its European manufacturing base in Raheen, 3km south-west of the city centre. The site employs more than 1,000 people. Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Vistakon (the world's largest manufacturer of contact lenses) has a large facility in Castletroy in the National Technology Park and also employs close to 1,000 people. It is Vistakon's only production facility outside the United States and one of the largest contact-lens manufacturing plants in the world. Cook Medical, the world's largest privately owned Medical Devices company, employs over 800 people in Limerick at the National Technology Park.
The recent economic recession in Ireland had a profound effect on Limerick. The announcement in 2009 that Dell was to move its manufacturing facility from Limerick to Poland devastated the local economy. 1900 jobs were lost at Dell and it is believed that for every job that was lost at Dell at least another 4 to 5 were at risk. The closure of the Dell manufacturing facility amounted to 2% of Ireland's national GDP.[55] The downturn in the construction industry also cost many jobs as did the stalled Limerick regeneration programme which promised a massive investment in Limerick's deprived city areas. As of 2012 unemployment had become a major problem across the city with the unemployment rate in the city at 28.6% which was almost twice the national average.[47]
Retail

The service industry is an important employer in the city. The Crescent Shopping Centre is the largest shopping centre in Ireland, outside of Dublin, and the largest in the province of Munster. It is located in Dooradoyle about 3km south of the city centre, and has over 90 shopping outlets along with restaurants and a 12-screen Omniplex Cinema. The city centre also has a large retail district which includes a mix of more traditional type of shops as well as some modern high street stores. Cruises Street is one of the main shopping streets. O'Connell Street, William Street, Bedford Row and Thomas Street) are also retail streets within the city. The city centre saw some works on remodelling in the early 21st century, with pedestrianisation works on Bedford Row, Thomas Street and parts of Catherine Street, as well as widening footpaths on William Street.[56][57] These works have sought to make the city centre more attractive for shoppers and visitors which has seen some decline in the late 20th and early 21st century, as the retail offering in the city centre has consistently lagged behind that of the suburban shopping centres. The result has been a severe reduction of footfall in the city centre which in turn has resulted in the closure of many city centre retail businesses which accelerated from recession of 2008 onwards.[58]
Retail parks and shopping centres

During the Celtic Tiger years a number of shopping centres & retail parks opened in suburban areas of Limerick. The 'Crescent Shopping Centre' expanded in the early 2000s to become one of the largest in Ireland. The 'Jetland Shopping Centre' in Caherdavin opened in 2005. Its main anchor is Dunnes Stores. The Childers Road Retail Park & the Parkway Shopping Centre in the east of the city also have a number of high street stores. Unfinished retail centres include the Coonagh Cross retail development and the Parkway Valley Shopping Centre on the Dublin Road. The Opera Centre was also a retail development for the city centre but is unlikely to go ahead.
The Milk Market
The Milk Market located at Cornmarket Row in the city centre sells locally produced foods and products. The market is governed by Limerick Market Trustees and is one of the oldest markets run in the country. It is open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the Saturday market acting as the flagship and is the most popular market. In 2010 work was undertaken to redevelop the existing premises to an all-weather, all year round facility as it operated in an outdoor environment. The work involved constructing a large canopy over the existing market premises and was officially re-opened in June 2010.
The Milk Market Project won the 2011 Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) 'Peoples Choice Award'. Local architects Healy & Partners designed the project. Also involved were local civil and structural engineers Dennany Reidy Associates.[59]
Transport
Air
Shannon Airport is 20km west of the city in County Clare. It is one of Ireland's main airports and is easily accessible from Limerick via the N18 dual carriageway and from other regions via the Limerick Tunnel. It has scheduled flights to European and North American destinations. Airlines using the airport include Ryanair, Aer Lingus, United Airlines, American Airlines, Aer Lingus Regional and Delta Air Lines. There is no rail link to the airport. Coonagh airfield, a few kilometres west of Caherdavin, serves small private aircraft. Kerry and Cork Airports are around 1 hour 30 minutes and 2 hours drive away, respectively. Kerry Airport is connected to Farranfore railway station, from Limerick railway station travel via Limerick Junction and Mallow.
Bus

Local public transport is provided by several companies. Bus Éireann, Ireland's state-owned bus company, operates a range of services subsidised by the National Transport Authority, while a number of provide operators also run commercial bus services in and around Limerick. A new enhanced city bus network was introduced in Limerick City on Sunday 4 December 2016.[60] A new route was introduced to the network called 304A that connects Raheen and Monaleen to the centre. Later services on all routes were also introduced with the last daily departure from the city centre at 23.30.
The city bus service routes are now:[61]
301	Fr. Russell Road – University Hospital Limerick – City Centre– Westbury (30 Minute Frequency)
302	Caherdavin – City Centre (20 Minute Frequency)
303	Pineview– City Centre– O'Malley Park (30 Minute Frequency)
304	UL– City Centre– Raheen (15 Minute Frequency)
304A 	Raheen – Bus/Rail Station – University – Monaleen (30 Minute Frequency)
305	St. Mary's Park– City Centre– Lynwood Park (60 Minute Frequency )
306	Edward St– City Centre– Ballynanty Beg (60 Minute Frequency)
307	Cappavilla / Castletroy to City Centre (60-minute frequency)
308 	Annacotty to City Centre (60-minute frequency)
Routes 301–306 are operated by Bus Éireann. Routes 307 and 308 were originally run by Eurobus, but have now been taken over by Dublin Coach.
Buses run to towns and villages in the county and to Shannon Airport. There are also a number of Intercity and international buses from Bus Éireann's bus terminal adjoining Limerick Colbert railway station. These include hourly services to Dublin, Cork, Ennis & Galway. Bus Éireann have also commenced the 'X51' Limerick to Galway Express travelling on the M18 in addition to the regular service. Buses run every 2 hours to Tralee & Killarney. There are also regular daily services to Waterford & Athlone and a daily service to London via the ferry from Rosslare Europort.
There are a number of private bus companies in operation providing city and intercity services. Dublin Coach provide the M7 express service which operates every hour from Arthur's Quay which goes to Dublin or Ennis.[62] JJ Kavanagh also provide Dublin to Limerick services and to Shannon Airport also from Arthur's Quay. Citylink run a number of services from Limerick to Galway & Cork and operate from Henry Street.
Rail

Iarnród Éireann's Limerick Colbert station is the railway hub for the city and the Mid West Region with a number of intercity and commuter rail services. Limerick railway station opened on 28 August 1858, replacing an earlier, temporary station 500 m east, which had operated from 9 May 1848.[63]
The following inter city routes are available from Limerick Colbert station:
Limerick to Dublin Heuston: 16 services daily including 4 direct services. All remaining Dublin – Limerick services require passengers to change to the Dublin to Cork train at either Limerick Junction or at Ballybrophy railway station.
Limerick to Waterford: 2 services daily (but none on Sundays). Passengers must change train at Limerick Junction to continue to Waterford with stations at Tipperary, Cahir, Clonmel & Carrick-on-Suir.
Limerick to Galway: 5 services daily. This service reopened on 29 March 2010.[64]
Limerick to Cork: Passengers can travel between Limerick and Cork via Limerick Junction. There is no direct service.
Limerick to Killarney, Farranfore and Tralee: Passengers can travel between Limerick and Killarney, Farranfore and Tralee via Limerick Junction where trains run via Mallow to reach County Kerry.
There are 3 suburban/commuter services in the Limerick Suburban Rail network:
Limerick – Ennis calling at Sixmilebridge
Limerick – Nenagh calling at Castleconnell and Birdhill (with some services continuing to Cloughjordan & Roscrea & connecting to the Dublin-Cork railway line at Ballybrophy.) Due to speed restrictions this alternative Dublin – Limerick route can take 60 minutes longer (with a change at Ballybrophy) than by Limerick Junction albeit a more direct service.
Limerick – Limerick Junction & Thurles
There are also a number of disused railway lines including the Limerick to Foynes line which closed to freight in the early 2000s, having lost passenger services in the early 1960s, although the track is still in situ.  This is the last remaining part of the North Kerry Line which closed to passenger traffic in the early 1960s and to freight traffic (other than Limerick – Foynes) in the mid-1970s, and has been lifted between Ballingrane (near Rathkeale) and Tralee.
The Railway Procurement Agency has suggested that a tram system should be built in the city.
Road

Limerick's central location in the mid – west of Ireland means many important national primary routes converge on the city.[65] The M7 (Dublin), N/M18 (Galway, Ennis, Shannon), N/M20 (Cork), N21 (Tralee) and N24 (Waterford) routes all start/terminate in or near the city. Road infrastructure has improved over the past decade with the completion of the southern ring road and Limerick Tunnel bypass of the city and the M20 bypass of Dooradoyle and Raheen to the south of the city. Connections to the other cities are improving also with the completion of the M7 motorway in December 2010, and continuing upgrades ongoing to the N/M18 to Shannon, Ennis, Galway and Tuam – the final section opened in September 2017.[66] A motorway is also planned between Cork and Limerick, with an expected completion date in the mid 2020s.[67]
Waterway transport
Historically, waterway transport has been key to Limerick's development. Vikings established the city as a maritime trading port. The city's position on a major Irish river system, the Shannon, enabled transport to the midlands of Ireland and further north and west. By the 18th Century with the opening of canal systems throughout Ireland, Limerick Port established itself as Ireland's premier commercial port on the western side of the country. This was enabled by ease of access from the facilitated by the opening of canals but most importantly to the River Shannon. The opening of the Grand Canal in the 18th century provided further access to Dublin and the east of the country. There are also a number of disused canals in the vicinity of the city including the Park Canal & the Passey – Errina Canal on the old Limerick navigation. Waterway transport on the Shannon was regularly used to transport goods from Limerick to Dublin and vice versa however this mode of transport fell into decline in the 20th century. Originally Limerick port was located near the confluence of the Abbey and Shannon rivers at King's Island. Today the port is located further downstream on the Shannon alongside the Dock Road and is operated by the Shannon Foynes Port Company who operate all marine activities in the Shannon estuary. It is a general purpose facility port. Plans to close the port and relocate all activity to the deepwater facility further downstream at Foynes have been abandoned. The plans included a major regeneration of the dockland area.
Education

Limerick is an important centre of higher education in Ireland.
Technical and continuation education within the city traces its beginning back to the formation of the Limerick Athenaeum Society in 1852, marking the foundation of the Limerick Institute of Technology.  The Society's aims included "the promotion of Literature, Science, Art and Music".[68]
Today, Limerick is home to a number of higher-education institutions including the University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology and Mary Immaculate College and has a student population of over 20,000.[69]
The University of Limerick (UL), has a student population of over 13,000, and is about 5km east of the city centre in the suburb of Castletroy. It was established as the National Institute for Higher Education (NIHE) in 1972, and in 1989 was the first university to be established since the foundation of the State in 1922. It is notable for its programs of engineering, information technology, materials science, sports science, humanities, teacher education, social sciences and music. In 2007, the university opened a medical school. The Irish World Music Centre specialises in traditional music and dance, and UL is host to the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The campus includes a 50m Olympic-standard swimming complex, the first to be established in Ireland.[70] The University has one of the longest footbridges in Europe, called "The Living Bridge", designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects of London.[71][72] Thomond College of Education, Limerick was a successful teacher training college for secondary level and was integrated into the university in 1991.
Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) has a student population of 7,000 and is a centre for undergraduate and postgraduate education in business, engineering, information technology, humanities, science and art education. The main campus is located at Moylish Park, about 3 kilometres north-west of the city centre, and the School of Art & Design is located on campuses at Clare Street and George's Quay. Additional facilities and outreach centres are located at O'Connell Street and in Ennis, Co. Clare and LIT has two campuses in Co. Tipperary, LIT Thurles and LIT Clonmel. These were formerly the campuses of the Tipperary Institute which merged with LIT in 2011.[73]
LIT was originally established in 1852 as a School of Ornamental Art.  In the mid-1970s it was incorporated as The Limerick College of Art, Commerce & Technology (CoACT) and achieved the designation of a Regional Technical College (RTC) in 1993 and finally an Institute of Technology in 1997. The Institute has a strong sporting ethos, which is not surprising given its location adjacent to Thomond Park and the Gaelic Grounds. It has a strong focus on business incubation, having operations in several enterprise centres: The National Franchise Centre; Croom Community Enterprise Centre; Thurles Chamber Enterprise Centre (TCEC); The Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre (HEAC). Two further enterprise centres, the Enterprise and Research Centre, Clonmel and the Irish Fashion Incubator Limited (IFIL) will be added to its unique "Enterprise Ladder" in 2013. LIT is also home to the Millennium Theatre, a popular northside venue for shows and concerts.
Mary Immaculate College is an education and arts college located just south-west of the city centre. The main focus is on the education of primary-level teachers. Mary Immaculate College is a constituent college of the University of Limerick.
Griffith College Limerick (GCL) is a private college in Limerick. The college was established in 2006 when the Mid West Business Institute was acquired by Griffith College. The college runs full-time and part-time courses in accountancy, business, law, engineering, computing and IT and has a range of part-time courses available.
Primary and secondary education in the city is organised in a similar fashion to the rest of Ireland. The City of Limerick Vocational Education Committee (CLVEC) provides education services for over 10,000 learners in the city at secondary and further education levels. It also runs Gaelcholáiste Luimnigh, an all Irish language secondary school. The other main secondary schools in the city are Castletroy College, Crescent College Comprehensive, Thomond Community College and Villiers which are all co-educational. Ardscoil Rís, St. Clements Redemptorist College, CBS Sexton Street and St Munchin's College are boys-only schools and Laurel Hill, The Presentation, Ard Scoil Mhuire and Scoil Carmel are girls-only schools.
Sport
Rugby, Gaelic football, hurling and association football are popular sporting pastimes in Limerick. The city and suburbs also has many tennis, athletics, cricket and golf clubs. The city is host to many large sporting events. Recent examples include the 2008 and 2009 Irish Open Golf Championships, the 2010 Irish Special Olympics, the All-Ireland Corporate Games and the World Baton twirling Championships.[74] Limerick has been designated as a European City of Sport for 2011 by the European Capitals of Sport Association (ACES).[75]
The National Elite Swimming Club is based in The University of Limerick Arena.
Basketball
Similar to the rest of Ireland, basketball was a very popular sport in Limerick during the 1970s and 1980s, with up to four divisions in the men's and women's local leagues. It suffered a decline during the 1990s culminating in the complete demise of local league basketball in the city and surrounding areas. The main clubs in the city were St. Colm's and Marathon with St. Colm's in particular having a long history in the National Leagues. There has been somewhat of a revival in basketball in the city in recent years, particularly at underage level.
Limerick is currently represented in the National Leagues by the men's UL Eagles team and the women's UL Aughinish team. They both play their home games at the 2,500 capacity University Arena at the University of Limerick. There are a number of other teams at school and club level, including St. Colm's, Limerick Lakers, Taste of Europe, Limerick Celtic and Limerick Lions.
Cricket
Limerick Cricket Club is a member of the Munster Cricket Union and plays in competitions organised by the Union. The club has in the past provided players for the Ireland national cricket team.
Rowing
Three rowing clubs are located in the city, namely Shannon Rowing Club, Saint Michaels Rowing Club and Athlunkard Boat Club. St Michael's member and Limerick native Sam Lynch won the World Championship gold medal in the Men's Lightweight Single Sculls in Lucerne in 2001, defending his title to take the gold again in Seville in 2002.
GAA sports

Ireland's national sports of Hurling and Gaelic football are widely played in the city and its surrounding suburbs. Limerick  won the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 2018 for the first time since 1973, having previously reached the finals in 1974, 1980, 1994, 1996 and 2007 and is one of the top four teams in the game, in terms of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships won. The county won successive All-Ireland Under-21 titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. The county's GAA teams display the Sporting Limerick logo. Sporting Limerick is a non-commercial brand developed to "capture Limerick City & County's unique sporting culture and to promote its place as one of Europe's leading regions for on field performances, off field facilities and its superb supporter base."[76]
Na Piarsaigh is the only city club playing hurling at senior level. Claughaun (Clochán), Monaleen (Móin a'Lín) and Mungret (Mungairit) compete at intermediate level and Old Christians (Sean-Chríostaithe), Milford (Áth an Mhuilinn), Saint Patrick's (Naomh Pádraig) and Abbey Sarsfields (Sáirséalaigh na Mainistreach) compete at junior level.
Limerick won the first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 1887 when represented by the city's Commercials club and repeated the feat in 1896. Since then, the game has lived mostly in the shadow of hurling but a resurgence in 2000 saw the county win its first Munster Under-21 title and has since reached three Munster Senior finals. Monaleen (Móin a'Lín) are the only city club to play football at the senior grade. Saint Patrick's (Naomh Pádraig), Claughaun (An Clochán), Mungret St. Paul's (Mungairit Naomh Pól) and Na Piarsaigh are at intermediate level and Milford (Áth an Mhuilinn), Abbey Sarsfields (Sáirséalaigh na Mainstreach) and Ballinacurra Gaels (Gaeil Bhaile na Cora) play at junior level.

A number of secondary school's compete in the Dr. Harty Cup, which is the Munster Colleges Hurling Championship. Limerick CBS has won the cup on 10 occasions, including four in a row from 1964 to 1967 and most recently in 1993. The school also won the Dr. Croke Cup, the All-Ireland Colleges Hurling Championship, on two occasions, in 1964 and 1966. Ardscoil Rís has won the championship on four occasions, in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015 and St. Munchin's College won it once, in 1922.
Both the University of Limerick (UL) and Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) have been successful in The Fitzgibbon Cup, the All-Ireland Higher Education Hurling Championship. UL first won the championship in 1989 and have won it four times in all. LIT's two wins came in 2005 and 2007. Both of the colleges met in the final in 2011, with UL scoring an injury-time goal to win.[77]
Limerick's Gaelic Grounds (Páirc na nGael), on the Ennis Road, is the county team's home venue for both sports and has a current capacity of 49,000 following reconstruction in 2004. In 1961 it hosted Ireland's biggest crowd for a sporting event outside Croke Park when over 61,000 paid to see the Munster hurling final between Tipperary and Cork.[78]
Golf
There are three golf clubs associated with Limerick city. Limerick Golf Club was founded in 1891 and is located at Ballyclough, 5 kilometres (3mi) due south of the city centre. Castletroy Golf Club was founded in 1937 and is located in the suburb of Castletroy in the southwest of the city. Rathbane Golf Club is based at Rathbane Golf Course, a municipal facility opened in 1998 on the southern outskirts of the city and operated under license for Limerick City Council. Both Limerick and Castletroy have enjoyed considerable success at national level in inter-club competition. Limerick has won the Irish Senior Cup, the blue riband event of Irish amateur golf, on four occasions and was the first Irish club to win the European Club Championship, in 1980.[79] Castletroy has won the Irish Senior Cup once.
Limerick Golf Club was host to the JP McManus Invitational Pro Am, one of the largest pro-am events of its kind in the world. It has contributed over €95m to local charities since its inception in 1990.[80] The event moved to the larger Adare Golf Club in 2005 as it had outgrown the Ballyclough venue.[81] Adare also played host to the Irish Open in 2007 and 2008.
Rugby

Rugby Union is very popular in the city and is widely played at all levels. Limerick is often referred to as the home of Irish rugby.[82][83] Since its inception in 1991 the All-Ireland League has been dominated by Limerick City teams, with three clubs winning the competition 13 times between them: Shannon (9); Garryowen (3) and Young Munster (1). The other senior clubs in the city are Old Crescent, Thomond, and UL Bohemians. Richmond and St.Marys are city clubs playing in the junior leagues.
The city's secondary schools compete in the Munster Senior and Junior Cups and a number of schools have had notable success at both levels. The most successful rugby school in the city is Crescent College who have won the Senior Cup ten times, most recently in 2013, and the Junior Cup five times, most recently in 2010. The school is affiliated to Old Crescent RFC. St Munchin's have won the Senior Cup five times since 1968 and the Junior Cup three times. Although Limerick CBS is more noted for hurling success, it won the Senior Cup on four occasions in the 1920s and 1930s and the Junior Cup in 1932. Ardscoil Rís has won the Junior Cup twice, in 2003 and 2005 and Castletroy College won both senior and junior competitions in 2008.
All Munster European Heineken Cup matches are played at Thomond Park Stadium, where the Munster team held a record of being unbeaten in the Heineken Cup for 26 consecutive games until the 16–9 defeat by Leicester in January 2007. Munster has won the Heineken Cup twice, in 2006 and 2008. The main street O'Connell Street was crowded for the 2006 match.[84] Munster recorded a famous 12 – 0 victory against the New Zealand All Blacks in 1978 at Thomond Park and came close a second time when the teams met again in 2008, losing 18–16. Munster also defeated an Australian touring side at Thomond Park in 2010.[85]
Rugby league is also played in Limerick and the city is represented in the Munster Conference of the Irish Elite League by Treaty City Titans, the most successful Irish club and 6 times Elite League champions, and current Elite League champions Country Cowboys. A Limerick-based side is also planning to enter Super League by 2016 playing matches out of Thomond Park, it is also set to host high-profile rugby league matches including the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, an academy was also set up to identify players to play for Super League clubs.[86][87]
Football
Football is very popular in the city and has more players involved than in any other sport. The city is represented in the League of Ireland by Limerick FC. The club first joined the league in 1937 and has been involved since then, although there have been a number of variations of the club. Their most successful period was from the 1960s to the 1980s when they won 2 League of Ireland championships and two FAI Cups. The club played at The Market's Field until the mid-1980s when they controversially moved to a new venue. A period of declining fortunes and a nomadic existence followed.[88] The club is currently playing in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of Irish football. Limerick FC returned to The Market's Field on 5 June 2015, following the purchase of the venue by the Limerick Enterprise Development Partnership (LEDP) from Bord na gCon, the Irish greyhound racing authority. The purchase was funded by a donation from the JP McManus Charitable Foundation.[89]
Horse racing
Limerick Racecourse is located 10km outside the city at Greenmount, Patrickswell and holds flat and National Hunt meetings throughout the year.
Boxing
Limerick has produced a World Boxing Champion, Andy Lee, the former WBO Middleweight Champion is from Limerick.
Energy
In 2013, a new energy strategy was launched for the region of Limerick and Clare. The project is a short-term 2020 renewable energy strategy giving a 20% reduction in CO2-emissions, while ensuring that short-term actions are beneficial to the long-term goal of 100% renewable energy. The strategy was completed by the Danish Aalborg University.[90]
Photos

King John's Castle on the River Shannon.
Another view of King John's Castle.
Sylvester O'Halloran Bridge.
A view along the quay in Limerick City.
The Treaty Stone on the banks of the River Shannon.
Another view of the Treaty Stone.
St. Mary's Cathedral.
Limerick on the River Shannon as viewed from Bishop's Quay.
Limerick City and the River Shannon at sunset.
Cast iron sculpture by Antony Gormley located in the Central Plaza of the University of Limerick.

See also
List of Limerick people
List of towns and villages in the Republic of Ireland
List of public art in Limerick
Notes

The History of Limerick City by Sean Spellissy (1998)
The Government and the People of Limerick. The History of Limerick Corporation/City Council 1197–2006 by Matthew Potter (2006)
First Citizens of the Treaty City. The Mayors and Mayoralty of Limerick 1197–2007 by Matthew Potter (2007)
The Memoirs of John M. Regan, a Catholic Officer in the RIC and RUC, 1909–48, Joost Augusteijn, editor, District Inspector, Limerick 1920, ISBN978-1-84682-069-4.


The official language of Monaco is French. In addition, there are several other languages spoken, including Monégasque, the national language of the Monégasque people.
French

French is the only official—and by far the most common—language in Monaco, a result of the role France has had over the microstate, since the annexation of Nice and the Nizzardo (the territory surrounding Monaco).
Monégasque
Monégasque is the traditional national language of the Monegasque people (who represent only 21.6% of the total population[1]). It is a dialect of Ligurian, and is somewhat similar to Italian.
Because the Monégasques are only a minority in Monaco, their tongue was threatened with extinction in the 1970s. However, the language is now being taught in schools. In the old part of Monaco, the street signs are marked with Monégasque in addition to French.
During his accession ceremonies in 2005, Albert II, Prince of Monaco, made a speech to his people in Monégasque.
Italian
Standard Italian is also a major language in Monaco. Italian nationals make up 19% of the total population.[1]
Italian was the ancestral language of the ruling House of Grimaldi, and was the official language of Monaco when it was a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1815 to 1861. [2]
Italian is also spoken by Caroline, Princess of Hanover and her children Andrea Casiraghi, Charlotte Casiraghi Pierre Casiraghi, as her late husband was Italian.[3]
English
There is also an Anglophone community in Monaco (8.5% of which are from the United Kingdom or the United States, with English-speakers from other nations as too insignificant and thus listed within the category of "other," below),[1] in addition to English-speaking tourists visiting the city.
Princess Grace was born an American, and all three of her children (including the reigning Prince) grew up speaking English among other languages.[4] The current princess of Monaco, Princess Charlene, is a native English speaker having been born a Rhodesian in now modern-day Zimbabwe.
Occitan
Occitan (Lenga d'òc) has also traditionally been spoken in Monaco, particularly when it covered a larger geographical territory, but is rarely used today.
Other
Intemelio is a Ligurian dialect spoken historically from the Principality of Monaco to the Italian province of Imperia.
Notes

See also
Outline of Monaco
History of Monaco


Stop motion is an animated-film making technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion when the series of frames is played back as a fast sequence. Dolls with movable joints or clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Stop-motion animation using plasticine figures is called clay animation or "clay-mation". Not all stop motion, however, requires figures or models: stop-motion films can also be made using humans, household appliances, and other objects, usually for comedic effect. Stop motion using humans is sometimes referred to as pixilation or pixilate animation.
Terminology
The term "stop motion," relating to the animation technique, is often spelled with a hyphen as "stop-motion." Both orthographical variants, with and without the hyphen, are correct, but the hyphenated one has a second meaning that is unrelated to animation or cinema: "a device for automatically stopping a machine or engine when something has gone wrong" (The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993 edition).[1]
Stop motion should not be confused with the time-lapse technique in which still photographs of a live scene are taken at regular intervals and then combined to make a continuous film. Time lapse is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster.
History

Stop-motion animation has a long history in film. It was often used to show objects moving as if by magic, but really by animation. The first instance of the stop-motion technique can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph's The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life.[2] In 1902, the film Fun in a Bakery Shop used the stop trick technique in the "lightning sculpting" sequence. French trick film maestro Georges Méliès used stop-motion animation once to produce moving title-card letters in one of his short films, and a number of his special effects are based on stop-motion photography. In 1907, The Haunted Hotel is a new stop-motion film by J. Stuart Blackton, and was a resounding success when released. Segundo de Chomón (1871–1929), from Spain, released El Hotel Eléctrico later that same year, and used similar techniques as the Blackton film. In 1908, A Sculptor's Welsh Rarebit Nightmare was released, as was The Sculptor's Nightmare, a film by Billy Bitzer. Italian animator Roméo Bossetti impressed audiences with his object animation tour-de-force, The Automatic Moving Company in 1912. The great European pioneer of stop motion was Wladyslaw Starewicz (1892–1965), who animated The Beautiful Lukanida (1910), The Battle of the Stag Beetles (1910), and The Ant and the Grasshopper (1911).
One of the earliest clay animation films was Modelling Extraordinary, which impressed audiences in 1912. December 1916 brought the first of Willie Hopkins' 54 episodes of "Miracles in Mud" to the big screen. Also in December 1916, the first woman animator, Helena Smith Dayton, began experimenting with clay stop motion. She would release her first film in 1917, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
In the turn of the century, there was another well known animator known as Willis O' Brien (known by others as O'bie). His work on The Lost World (1925) is well known, but he is most admired for his work on King Kong (1933), a milestone of his films made possible by stop-motion animation.
O'Brien's protege and eventual successor in Hollywood was Ray Harryhausen.  After learning under O'Brien on the film Mighty Joe Young (1949), Harryhausen would go on to create the effects for a string of successful and memorable films over the next three decades.  These included The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955),  Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Clash of the Titans (1981).
In a 1940 promotional film, Autolite, an automotive parts supplier, featured stop-motion animation of its products marching past Autolite factories to the tune of Franz Schubert's Military March. An abbreviated version of this sequence was later used in television ads for Autolite, especially those on the 1950s CBS program Suspense, which Autolite sponsored.
1960s and 1970s
In the 1960s and 1970s, independent clay animator Eliot Noyes Jr. refined the technique of "free-form" clay animation with his Oscar-nominated 1965 film Clay (or the Origin of Species). Noyes also used stop motion to animate sand lying on glass for his musical animated film Sandman (1975).
Stop motion was used by Rankin/Bass Productions on some of their television programs and feature films including The New Adventures of Pinocchio  (1960–1961), Willy McBean and his Magic Machine (1963, 1965) and most notably seasonal/holiday favorites like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Mad Monster Party? (1966, 1967), The Little Drummer Boy (1968), Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970) and Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971). Under the name of "Animagic", the stop-motion works of Rankin/Bass were supervised by Tadahito Mochinaga at his MOM Production in Tokyo, Japan.
In 1975, filmmaker and clay animation experimenter Will Vinton joined with sculptor Bob Gardiner to create an experimental film called Closed Mondays which became the world's first stop-motion film to win an Oscar. Will Vinton followed with several other successful short film experiments including The Great Cognito, Creation, and Rip Van Winkle which were each nominated for Academy Awards.  In 1977, Vinton made a documentary about this process and his style of animation which he dubbed "claymation"; he titled the documentary Claymation.  Soon after this documentary, the term was trademarked by Vinton to differentiate his team's work from others who had been, or were beginning to do, "clay animation".  While the word has stuck and is often used to describe clay animation and stop motion, it remains a trademark owned currently by Laika Entertainment, Inc. Twenty clay-animation episodes featuring the clown Mr. Bill were a feature of Saturday Night Live, starting from a first appearance in February 1976.
At very much the same time in the UK, Peter Lord and David Sproxton formed Aardman Animations. In 1976 they created the character Morph who appeared as an animated side-kick to the TV presenter Tony Hart on his BBC TV programme Take Hart. The five-inch-high presenter was made from a traditional British modelling clay called Plasticine. In 1977 they started on a series of animated films, again using modelling clay, but this time made for a more adult audience. The soundtrack for Down and Out was recorded in a Salvation Army Hostel and Plasticine puppets were animated to dramatise the dialogue. A second film, also for the BBC followed in 1978. A TV series The Amazing Adventures of Morph was aired in 1980.
Sand-coated puppet animation was used in the Oscar-winning 1977 film The Sand Castle, produced by Dutch-Canadian animator Co Hoedeman. Hoedeman was one of dozens of animators sheltered by the National Film Board of Canada, a Canadian government film arts agency that had supported animators for decades. A pioneer of refined multiple stop-motion films under the NFB banner was Norman McLaren, who brought in many other animators to create their own creatively controlled films. Notable among these are the pinscreen animation films of Jacques Drouin, made with the original pinscreen donated by Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.
Italian stop-motion films include Quaq Quao (1978), by Francesco Misseri, which was stop motion with origami, The Red and the Blue and the clay animation kittens Mio and Mao. Other European productions included a stop-motion-animated series of Tove Jansson's The Moomins (from 1979, often referred to as "The Fuzzy Felt Moomins"), produced by Film Polski and Jupiter Films.
One of the main British Animation teams, John Hardwick and Bob Bura, were the main animators in many early British TV shows, and are famous for their work on the Trumptonshire trilogy.
Disney experimented with several stop-motion techniques by hiring independent animator-director Mike Jittlov to make the first stop-motion animation of Mickey Mouse toys ever produced, in a short sequence called Mouse Mania, part of a TV special, Mickey's 50, which commemorated Mickey's 50th anniversary in 1978. Jittlov again produced some impressive multi-technique stop-motion animation a year later for a 1979 Disney special promoting their release of the feature film The Black Hole. Titled Major Effects, Jittlov's work stood out as the best part of the special. Jittlov released his footage the following year to 16mm film collectors as a short film titled The Wizard of Speed and Time, along with four of his other short multi-technique animated films, most of which eventually evolved into his own feature-length film of the same title. Effectively demonstrating almost all animation techniques, as well as how he produced them, the film was released to theaters in 1987 and to video in 1989.
1980s to present

In the 1970s and 1980s, Industrial Light & Magic often used stop-motion model animation in such films as the original Star Wars trilogy: the chess sequence in Star Wars, the Tauntauns and AT-AT walkers in The Empire Strikes Back, and the AT-ST walkers in Return of the Jedi were all filmed using stop-motion animation, with the latter two films utilising go motion: an invention from renowned visual effects veteran Phil Tippett. The many shots including the ghosts in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the first two feature films in the RoboCop series use Tippett's go motion.
In the UK, Aardman Animations continued to grow. Channel 4 funded a new series of clay animated films, Conversation Pieces, using recorded soundtracks of real people talking. A further series in 1986, called Lip Sync, premiered the work of Richard Goleszowski (Ident), Barry Purves (Next), and Nick Park (Creature Comforts), as well as further films by Sproxton and Lord. Creature Comforts won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1990.
In 1980, Marc Paul Chinoy directed the 1st feature-length clay animated film, based on the famous Pogo comic strip. Titled I go Pogo. It was aired a few times on American cable channels but has yet to be commercially released. Primarily clay, some characters required armatures, and walk cycles used pre-sculpted hard bases legs.
Stop motion was also used for some shots of the final sequence of Terminator movie, also for the scenes of the small alien ships in Spielberg's Batteries Not Included in 1987, animated by David W. Allen. Allen's stop-motion work can also be seen in such feature films as The Crater Lake Monster (1977), Q - The Winged Serpent (1982), The Gate (1986) and Freaked (1993). Allen's King Kong Volkswagen commercial from the 1970s is now legendary among model animation enthusiasts.
In 1985, Will Vinton and his team released an ambitious feature film in stop motion called "The Adventures Of Mark Twain" based on the life and works of the famous American author.  While the film may have been a little sophisticated for young audiences at the time, it got rave reviews from critics and adults in general.  Vinton's team also created the Nomes and the Nome King for Disney's "Return to Oz" feature, for which they received an Academy Award Nomination for Special Visual Effects.  In the 80's and early 90's, Will Vinton became very well known for his commercial work as well with stop-motion campaigns including The California Raisins.
Of note are the films of Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer, which mix stop motion and live actors. These include Alice, an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Faust, a rendition of the legend of the German scholar.  The Czech school is also illustrated by the series Pat & Mat (1979–present). Created by Lubomír Beneš and Vladimír Jiránek, and it was wildly popular in a number of countries.
Since the general animation renaissance headlined by the likes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, there have been an increasing number of traditional stop-motion feature films, despite advancements with computer animation. The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, was one of the more widely released stop-motion features and become  the highest grossing stop-motion animated movie of its time, grossing over $50 million domestic. Henry Selick also went on to direct James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, and Tim Burton went on to direct Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie.
In 1999, Will Vinton launched the first prime-time stop-motion television series called The PJs, co-created by actor-comedian Eddie Murphy.  The Emmy-winning sitcom aired on Fox for two seasons, then moved to the WB for an additional season. Vinton launched another series, Gary & Mike, for UPN in 2001.
Another individual who found fame in clay animation is Nick Park, who created the characters Wallace and Gromit. In addition to a series of award-winning shorts and featurettes, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for the feature-length outing Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Chicken Run, to date, is the highest grossing stop motion animated movie ever grossing nearly $225 million worldwide.
The BBC commissioned thirteen episodes of stop frame animated Summerton Mill in 2004 as inserts into their flagship pre-school program, Tikkabilla. Created and produced by Pete Bryden and Ed Cookson, the series was then given its own slot on BBC1 and BBC2 and has been broadcast extensively around the world.
Other notable stop-motion feature films released since 1990 include The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993), Fantastic Mr. Fox and $9.99, both released in 2009, and Anomalisa (2015).
Variations of stop motion
Cutout animation
Cutout animation is a variant of stop-motion animation that utilises flat materials such as paper, fabrics and photographs in its production, producing a 2D animation as a result. Prominent examples of cutout animation include the early episodes of South Park, and the Charley Says series of British public information films.
Stereoscopic stop motion
Stop motion has very rarely been shot in stereoscopic 3D throughout film history. The first 3D stop-motion short was In Tune With Tomorrow (also known as Motor Rhythm), made in 1939 by John Norling. The second stereoscopic stop-motion release was The Adventures of Sam Space in 1955 by Paul Sprunck. The third and latest stop motion short in stereo 3D was The Incredible Invasion of the 20,000 Giant Robots from Outer Space in 2000 by Elmer Kaan[3] and Alexander Lentjes.[4][5] This is also the first ever 3D stereoscopic stop motion and CGI short in the history of film. The first all stop-motion 3D feature is Coraline (2009), based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling novel and directed by Henry Selick.
Another recent example is the Nintendo 3DS video software which comes with the option for Stop Motion videos. This has been released December 8, 2011 as a 3DS system update. Also, the movie ParaNorman is in 3D stop motion.
Go motion
Another more complicated variation on stop motion is go motion, co-developed by Phil Tippett and first used on the films The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Dragonslayer (1981), and the RoboCop films. Go motion involved programming a computer to move parts of a model slightly during each exposure of each frame of film, combined with traditional hand manipulation of the model in between frames, to produce a more realistic motion blurring effect. Tippett also used the process extensively in his 1984 short film Prehistoric Beast, a 10 minutes long sequence depicting a herbivorous dinosaur (Monoclonius), being chased by a carnivorous one (Tyrannosaurus). With new footage Prehistoric Beast became Dinosaur! in 1985, a full-length dinosaurs documentary hosted by Christopher Reeve. Those Phil Tippett's go motion tests acted as motion models for his first photo-realistic use of computers to depict dinosaurs in Jurassic Park in 1993. A low-tech, manual version of this blurring technique was originally pioneered by Wladyslaw Starewicz in the silent era, and was used in his feature film The Tale of the Fox (1931).
Comparison to computer-generated imagery

Reasons for using stop motion instead of the more advanced computer-generated imagery (CGI) include the low entry price and the appeal of its distinct look. It is now mostly used in children's programming, in commercials and some comic shows such as Robot Chicken. Another merit of stop motion is that it legitimately displays actual real-life textures, as CGI texturing is more artificial, therefore not quite as close to realism. This is appreciated by a number of animation directors, such as Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Wes Anderson, and Travis Knight.
Stop motion in television and movies

Dominating children's TV stop-motion programming for three decades in America was Art Clokey's Gumby series (1955–1989) and its feature film, Gumby I (1992, 1995), using both freeform and character clay animation. Clokey started his adventures in clay with a 1953 freeform clay short film called Gumbasia (1953) which shortly thereafter propelled him into his more structured Gumby TV series. In partnership with the United Lutheran Church in America, he also produces Davey and Goliath (1960–2004).
In November 1959, the first episode of Sandmännchen was shown on East German television, a children's show that had Cold War propaganda as its primary function. New episodes, minus any propaganda, are still being produced in the now-reunified Germany,[6] making it one of the longest running animated series in the world.
In the 1960s, the French animator Serge Danot created the well-known The Magic Roundabout (1965) which played for many years on the BBC. Another French/Polish stop-motion animated series was Colargol (Barnaby the Bear in the UK, Jeremy in Canada), by Olga Pouchine and Tadeusz Wilkosz.
A British TV series, Clangers (1969), became popular on television. The British artists Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall (Cosgrove Hall Films) produced the two stop-motion animated adaptions of Enid Blyton's Noddy book series including the original series of the same name (1975–1982) and Noddy's Toyland Adventures (1992–2001), a full-length film The Wind in the Willows (1983) and later a multi-season TV series, both based on Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book of the same title. They also produced a documentary of their production techniques, Making Frog and Toad.  Since the 1970s and continuing into the 21st century, Aardman Animations, a British studio, has produced short films, television series, commercials and feature films, starring plasticine characters such as Wallace and Gromit; they also produced a notable music video for "Sledgehammer", a song by Peter Gabriel.
During 1986 to 1991, Churchill Films produced The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, and Ralph S. Mouse for ABC television. The shows featured stop-motion characters combined with live action, based on the books of Beverly Cleary. John Clark Matthews was animation director, with Justin Kohn, Joel Fletcher, and Gail Van Der Merwe providing character animation.[7]
From 1986 to 2000, over 150 five-minute episodes of Pingu, a Swiss children's comedy were produced by Trickfilmstudio.  In the 1990s Trey Parker and Matt Stone made two shorts and the pilot of South Park almost entirely out of construction paper.
In 1999, Tsuneo Gōda directed an official 30-second sketches of the character Domo. With the shorts animated by stop-motion studio dwarf is still currently produced in Japan and has then received universal critical acclaim from fans and critics. Gōda also directed the stop-motion movie series Komaneko in 2004.
In 2003, the pilot film for the series Curucuru and Friends, produced by Korean studio Ffango Entertoyment is greenlighted into a children's animated series in 2004 after an approval with the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency. It was aired in KBS1 on November 24, 2006 and won the 13th Korean Animation Awards in 2007 for Best Animation. Ffango Entertoyment also worked with Frontier Works in Japan to produce the 2010 film remake of Cheburashka.[8]
Since 2005, Robot Chicken has mostly utilized stop-motion animation, using custom made action figures and other toys as principal characters.
Since 2009, Laika, the stop-motion successor to Will Vinton Studios, has released four feature films, which have collectively grossed over $400 million.
Stop motion in other media
Many young people begin their experiments in movie making with stop motion, thanks to the ease of modern stop-motion software and online video publishing.[9] Many new stop-motion shorts use clay animation into a new form.[10]
Singer-songwriter Oren Lavie's music video for the song Her Morning Elegance was posted on YouTube on January 19, 2009.  The video, directed by Lavie and Yuval and Merav Nathan, uses stop motion and has achieved great success with over 25.4 million views, also earning a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for "Best Short Form Music Video".
Stop motion has occasionally been used to create the characters for computer games, as an alternative to CGI. The Virgin Interactive Entertainment Mythos game Magic and Mayhem (1998) featured creatures built by stop-motion specialist Alan Friswell, who made the miniature figures from modelling clay and latex rubber, over armatures of wire and ball-and-socket joints. The models were then animated one frame at a time, and incorporated into the CGI elements of the game through digital photography. "ClayFighter" for the Super NES and The Neverhood for the PC are other examples.
Scientists at IBM used a scanning tunneling microscope to single out and move individual atoms which were used to make characters in A Boy and His Atom. This was the tiniest scale stop-motion video made at that time.
See also

List of stop motion artists
List of stop motion films
Go motion
Still motion
Brickfilm
Wallace and Gromit
Pingu
Mio Mao
Gumby
Time-lapse photography

Sources

Bibliography

 at Curlie
an example for an early stop-motion film (1908): , europeanfilmgateway.eu
An alternative explanation -

When was stop animation first used in a film?


"The Blue Danube" is the common English title of "An der schönen blauen Donau", Op.314 (German for "By the Beautiful Blue Danube"), a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Originally performed on 15 February 1867[1][2] at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association),[2] it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was considered only a mild success,[1] however, and Strauss is reputed to have said, "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!"[2]
After the original music was written, the words were added by the Choral Association's poet, Joseph Weyl.[1][3] Strauss later added more music, and Weyl needed to change some of the words.[4] Strauss adapted it into a purely orchestral version for the 1867 Paris World's Fair, and it became a great success in this form.[1] The instrumental version is by far the most commonly performed today. An alternate text was written by Franz von Gernerth, "Donau so blau" (Danube so blue). "The Blue Danube" premiered in the United States in its instrumental version on 1 July 1867 in New York, and in Great Britain in its choral version on 21 September 1867 in London at the promenade concerts at Covent Garden.
When Strauss's stepdaughter, Alice von Meyszner-Strauss, asked the composer Johannes Brahms to sign her autograph-fan, he wrote down the first bars of The Blue Danube, but adding "Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms" ("Alas! not by Johannes Brahms").[2][5]

Composition notes
The work commences with an extended introduction in the key of A major with shimmering (tremolo) violins and a horn spelling out the familiar waltz theme, answered by staccato wind chords, in a subdued mood. It rises briefly into a loud passage but quickly dies down into the same restful nature of the opening bars. A contrasting and quick phrase in D major anticipates the waltz before three quiet downward-moving bass notes "usher in" the first principal waltz melody.
The first waltz theme is a familiar gently rising triad motif played by cellos and horns in the tonic (D major), accompanied by the harp; the Viennese waltz beat is accentuated at the end of each 3-note phrase. The Waltz 1A triumphantly ends its rounds of the motif, and waltz 1B follows in the same key; the genial mood is still apparent.
Waltz 2A glides in quietly (still in D major) before a short contrasting middle section in B-flat major. The entire section is repeated.
A more dour waltz 3A is introduced in G major before a fleeting eighth-note melodic phrase (waltz 3B). A loud Intrada (introduction) in Gm is then played. Waltz 4A starts off in a romantic mood (it is in F major) before a more joyous waltz 4B in the same key.
After another short Intrada in A, cadencing in F-sharp minor, sonorous clarinets spell out the poignant melody of waltz 5A in A. Waltz 5B is the climax, punctuated by cymbal crashes. Each of these may be repeated at the discretion of the performer.
The coda recalls earlier sections (3A and 2A) before furious chords usher in a recap of the romantic Waltz 4A. The idyll is cut short as the waltz hurries back to the famous waltz theme 1A again. This statement is also cut short, however, by the final codetta: a variation of 1A is presented, connecting to a rushing eighth-note passage in the final few bars: repeated tonic chords underlined by a snare drum roll and a bright-sounding flourish.
A typical performance lasts around 10 minutes, with the seven-minute main piece, followed by a three-minute coda.
Instrumentation
The Blue Danube is scored for the following orchestra:

Woodwinds
2 Flutes (Fl. 2 doubling Piccolo)
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in C
2 Bassoons
Brass
4 Horns in F
2 Trumpets in F
Bass trombone
Tuba

Percussion
Timpani
Bass drum
Triangle
Snare drum
Strings
Harp
Violins I, II
Violas
Violoncellos
Double basses

Choral version
The Beautiful Blue Danube was first written as a song for a carnival choir (for bass and tenor), with rather satirical lyrics (Austria having just lost the war with Prussia).[1] The original title was also referring to a poem about the Danube in the poet Karl Isidor Beck's hometown, Baja in Hungary, and not in Vienna. Later Franz von Gernerth wrote new, more "official-sounding" lyrics:[6]

Donau so blau,

so schön und blau,

durch Tal und Au

wogst ruhig du hin,

dich grüßt unser Wien,

dein silbernes Band

knüpft Land an Land,

und fröhliche Herzen schlagen

an deinem schönen Strand.

Weit vom Schwarzwald her

eilst du hin zum Meer,

spendest Segen

allerwegen,

ostwärts geht dein Lauf,

nimmst viel Brüder auf:

Bild der Einigkeit

für alle Zeit!

Alte Burgen seh'n

nieder von den Höh'n,

grüssen gerne

dich von ferne

und der Berge Kranz,

hell vom Morgenglanz,

spiegelt sich in deiner Wellen Tanz.

Die Nixen auf dem Grund,

die geben's flüsternd kund,

was Alles du erschaut,

seit dem über dir der Himmel blaut.

Drum schon in alter Zeit

ward dir manch' Lied geweiht;

und mit dem hellsten Klang

preist immer auf's Neu' dich unser Sang.

Halt' an deine Fluten bei Wien,

es liebt dich ja so sehr!

Du findest, wohin du magst zieh'n,

ein zweites Wien nicht mehr!

Hier quillt aus voller Brust

der Zauber heit'rer Lust,

und treuer, deutscher Sinn

streut aus seine Saat von hier weithin.

Du kennst wohl gut deinen Bruder, den Rhein,—

an seinen Ufern wächst herrlicher Wein,

dort auch steht bei Tag und bei Nacht

die feste treue Wacht.

Doch neid' ihm nicht jene himmlische Gab',

bei dir auch strömt reicher Segen herab,

und es schützt die tapfere Hand

auch unser Heimatland!

D'rum laßt uns einig sein,

schliesst Brüder, fest den Reih'n,

froh auch in trüber Zeit,

Mut, wenn Gefahr uns dräut,

Heimat am Donaustrand,

bist uns'rer Herzen Band,

dir sei für alle Zeit

Gut und Blut geweiht!

Das Schifflein fährt auf den Wellen so sacht,

still ist die Nacht,

die Liebe nur wacht,

der Schiffer flüstert der Liebsten ins Ohr,

daß längst schon sein Herz sie erkor.

O Himmel, sei gnädig dem liebenden Paar,

schutz' vor Gefahr es immerdar!

Nun fahren dahin sie in seliger Ruh',

O Schifflein, far' immer nur zu!

Junges Blut,

frischer Muth,

o wie glücklich macht,

dem vereint ihr lacht!

Lieb und Lust

schwellt die Brust,

hat das Größte in der Welt vollbracht.

Nun singst ein fröhliches seliges Lied,

das wie Jauchzen die Lüfte durchzieht,

von den Herzen laut widerklingt

und ein festes Band um uns schlingt.

Frei und treu in Lied und Tat,

bringt ein Hoch der Wienerstadt,

die auf's Neu' erstand voller Pracht

und die Herzen erobert mit Macht.

Und zum Schluß

bringt noch einen Gruß

uns'rer lieben Donau dem herrlichen Fluß.

Was der Tag

uns auch bringen mag,

Treu' und Einigkeit

soll uns schützen zu jeglicher Zeit!Danube so blue,

so bright and blue,

through vale and field

you flow so calm,

our Vienna greets you,

your silver stream

through all the lands

you merry the heart

with your beautiful shores.

Far from the Black Forest

you hurry to the sea

giving your blessing

to everything.

Eastward you flow,

welcoming your brothers,

A picture of peace

for all time!

Old castles looking

down from high,

greet you smiling

from their steep

and craggy hilltops,

and the mountains' vistas

mirror in your dancing waves.

The mermaids from the riverbed,

whispering as you flow by,

are heard by everything

under the blue sky above.

The noise of your passing

is a song from old times

and with the brightest sounds

your song leads you ever on.

Stop your tides at Vienna,

it loves you so much!

Whenever you might look

Another Vienna you will find nowhere!

Here pours a full chest

the charms of happy wishes,

and heartfelt German wishes

are flown away on your waters.

You know very well your brother, the Rhine,

on its banks grows a magnificent wine,

there is also, day and night,

the fixed and faithful watch.

But envy him not those heavenly gifts

by you, too, many blessings stream down

and the brave hand protects

our homeland!

Therefore let us be united,

joined brothers, in strong ranks,

happy even in troubled times;

Brave, when danger threatens us,

Home on the Danube beach,

are our hearts bound,

To thee for all time

Good and blood are consecrated!

The boat travels on the waves so softly,

quiet is the night,

love watching only

the sailor whispers in the lover's ear,

that his heart long ago she owned.

O Heaven, have mercy on the loving couple,

protect them from danger there forever!

Now they pass on in blissful repose,

Boat, sail always on!

Young blood

fresh courage,

O how happy,

it unites laughter!

Love and passion

fills the breast –

it's the greatest in the world.

Now sing a cheerful and blessed song,

the jubilation as the air permeates

echoed loudly by the heart

and tie a band around us.

Free and faithful in song and deed,

Bring a height to Vienna city

bought it on the new full glory

and conquered with force.

And in conclusion

brings even a greeting

to our love of the beautiful Danube River.

Whatever the day

may bring us,

Loyalty and unity

is to protect us all the time!
In popular culture
The specifically Viennese sentiment associated with Strauss's melody has made it an unofficial Austrian national anthem.[7]
The piece was prominently used in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. After a leap from humanity's prehistoric past to its spacefaring future, the first two-thirds of The Blue Danube are heard as a space plane approaches and docks with a space station; it concludes while another spacecraft travels from the station to the Moon. The piece is then reprised over the film's closing credits.[2]
In a Monty Python's Flying Circus skit, a shortened version is played by an orchestra, and each member explodes after each refrain.
Moose Charlap and Chuck Sweeney[8] wrote a popular song with lyrics, named "How Blue," based on "The Blue Danube," recorded by The Mills Brothers in 1954[9].

Sources
Lloyd, Norman, The Golden Encyclopedia of Music, New York: Golden Press, a division of Western Publishing, Inc., 1968.
Jeroen H.C. Tempelman, , Vienna Music, no. 101 (Winter 2012), pp.28–31

The Blue Danube: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
, John Church Company, 1868.

When did Strauss write his Danube Waltz?