Official opening of Athlone Castle today

Athlone Castle will be officially opened today by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring TD at 2.45pm. The event will be attended by Council officials, Fáilte Ireland representatives and those involved in the tourism sector nationally, regionally and locally. The official opening will launch the castle ahead of the 2013 tourism season. Award winning illustrator Victor Ambrus, who created the majority of the illustrations on display throughout the castle, will also attend the official opening of Athlone Castle Visitor Centre. Mr Ambrus is probably best known for his work on the Channel 4 archaeology series Time Team, where he illustrates how sites excavated on the television show would have once looked. The castle reopened its doors to the public on November 6 2012 following a multi-million euro renovation to transform the castle into a state of the art, multi-sensory visitor experience. Over 4000 people have walked through the doors of Athlone Castle since it re-opened its doors to the public last November.