The Award winning Athenry Arts and Heritage Centre celebrates the medieval past of Galway's premier Heritage Town. Centrally located in the Market Square, the Centre is housed in the 19th Century C. o. I. church, itself set amongst the ruins of the 13th Century Collegiate Church of St. Mary's.
Founded about 1235 by Meiler de Birmingham, as Connaught's second major town, Athenry became 'fossilized' after its disastrous sacking in 1597 by Red Hugh O'Donnell. As a result, Athenry still retains more and better medieval monuments than anywhere else in the country.
Within the Centre an impressive model illustrates Athenry's street plan which remains unchanged since medieval times and its Town Walls, with surrounding moat, five wall towers and one fine surviving arched gateway which are, without doubt, the most impressive and best of their period.
On display within the Centre are the town's 14th Century Mace and Seal which were recently returned after an absence of some 160 years..