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sweny's
We went inside the 179-year-old pharmacy made famous by James Joyce's Ulysses
So little has changed about Sweny’s interior that even the original prescriptions are still sitting in drawers.
WHEN SWENY’S PHARMACY first opened its doors in 1847, few could have predicted that not only would it still be standing 179 years later, but that it would also serve as one of the most active links to Dublin’s literary history.
Located at Lincoln Place in Dublin 2, the pharmacy was made famous by James Joyce’s Ulysses, in which Leopold Bloom visits to collect a prescription and buy (well, it was more of an ‘on credit’ sale that was never repaid) a bar of lemon soap.
The interior of the building has barely changed since Joyce’s time – and it now operates as a volunteer-ran memorabilia shop that sells books, souvenirs and replicas of the famous lemon soap.
We spoke to author Lee Sheridan, whose latest book titled Soap: A History of Sweny’s Pharmacy tells its story from when it opened right up to the present day – preserving a place that Sheridan describes as “the last of its kind”.
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