Did you know there is a Thermopylae in Ireland?

Photo: Jo Day

2020 marks the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Thermopylae garden, designed by Zula in 1834, can be found at Kilwarlin Moravian Church near Hillsborough, Co. Down, Northern Ireland.
Basil Zula was born in 1796 at Roumeli, near Corinth, and fought at Messolonghi in the Greek War of Independence against the Turks. He came to Ireland in 1828 as the travelling companion of Englishman, Sir William Eden. There he met and married the Greek-speaking Moravian, Ann Linfoot, and became a Moravian minister (and was likely the only Greek member of the Moravian Church ever!).
Arriving at Kilwarlin in 1834, Zula rebuilt the church, revitalised the congregation, and developed a garden that was laid out to represent the Battle of Thermopylae, including two mounds and a large pond with a stream running from it, bringing a little piece of Greece to Ireland.

For more information about Zula, Kilwarlin Moravian Church and the Thermopylae earthworks see : Day, J. 2007. Rev. Basil Zula and the Thermopylae Garden at Kilwarlin, Co. Down', in The Lure of Greece: Irish Involvement in Greek Culture, Literature, History and Politics, edited by John V. Luce, Christine Morris and Christina Souyoudzoglou-Haywood, IIHSA, Dublin.