RARE glimpses of Irish life in the 20th century captured by a German photographer who came to Ireland have gone on display in Limerick.
Franz S. Haselbeck cycled all over Limerick City and the surrounding countryside throughout his life to photograph events that changed the face of the region, including the War of Independence.
Government minister Jimmy Deenihan launched The Haselbeck Collection at Limerick City Hall.
“These photographs give us an unrivalled opportunity to turn the clock back more than 100 years and are invaluable to the social and cultural history of the area,” said the minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Mr Haselbeck’s family moved from Germany, via England, to Wolfe Tone Street in Limerick during the early 1900's before establishing a sausage and pudding craft business in St. Johns Square.
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The young man settled in Limerick in 1912 after studying at Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and further honing his trade in Paris and Killarney. He worked in the city until his death in 1973.
The extensive collection has been offered for display during Limerick’s City of Culture celebrations by the photographer’s grand-daughter.
Patricia Haselbeck Flynn described her grandfather’s work as “a beautiful and fascinating record of past times”.
“I am sure my grandfather would be very proud of their use in this wonderful exhibition, especially during the City of Culture 2014,” she added.
Crowds applaud as striking workers march through Wickham St onto William St, Limerick, in April 1919 during the general worker’s strike. Taken from Franz S. Haselbeck's Ireland - Selected Photographs compiled by Patricia Haselbeck Flynn, published by The Collins Press, 2013Meanwhile, Jacqui Hayes, Limerick City Archivist, described Mr Haselbeck as “an exceptional photographer who took his art very seriously”.
Some of the earliest photographs featured in the exhibition relate to the Irish Volunteers and the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1913 and 1914, when Ireland was striving for Home Rule.
The exhibition also features photographs of major infrastructure and industrial projects in Limerick City and southeast Clare as the region became more industrial. They include Irish Wire on the Dock Road, Ranks Flour Mill, Mungret Cement Factory and the construction of the Shannon Scheme at Ardnacrusha.
Mr Haselbeck also photographed Limerick’s streets, its lanes, shop fronts and major buildings from churches to the City’s famed Georgian terraces.
The free exhibition of the Hasselbeck Collection runs at Limerick City Hall until February.
