Thurles - Holy Cross Abbey

4mi/6km south of Thurles, on the right bank of the Suir, is Holy Cross Abbey (13th-15th C; National Monument), a Cistercian house founded in the 12th C. The abbey possessed a fragment of the True Cross which made it a great place of pilgrimage. The church, re-roofed and restored in 1975 as part of European Architectural Heritage Year, has three aisles and two transepts with a massive tower over the crossing.

The chancel, transepts and crossing are beautifully vaulted. The choir (15th C.) with its east window and stone sedilia bearing coats of arms is particularly fine. In the north transept, partly preserved, is a wall painting (a feature rare in Ireland) depicting a stag hunting scene in shades of brown, red and green. Between two chapel recesses in the south transept is a columned and arched structure, probably the shrine in which the relic of the True Cross was exhibited. From here a staircase leads to the upper floor with the monastic living quarters. On the east side of the beautiful and well-preserved cloister lies the chapter house; the refectory on the south side has been destroyed.