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“Pic of the Week”, January 19, 2018: Grafton Street, Dublin
Grafton Street is a popular pedestrian walkway in downtown Dublin, with many historic buildings and a variety of shops, restaurants, hotels and bars. It is the main shopping street in Dublin. The street is lovely and the ambience conducive to window-shopping and a leisurely stroll.
Grafton Street begins at St Stephens Green and runs north towards Trinity College. It’s at the northern end that you find the statue of Molly Malone. The area is popular with street performers and has become renowned as a launch pad for musical acts, such as U2 front man Bono.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge, right arrow to advance)
Jan 18, 2018
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“Pic of the Week”, November 3, 2017: Famine Memorial, Dublin
A friend once told me that good public art should capture your attention and “get you in the gut”. That’s certainly true of the Famine statues on Custom House Quay in Dublin’s modernized Docklands. These gaunt figures commemorate the Great Potato Famine of the mid-19th century (1845 – 1847), referred to as An Gorta Mór –“the great hunger”. The location is historic as it was the site of the first voyage of the famine exodus on the ship Perseverance. The work is entitled “Famine” and was presented to the People of Ireland by Norma Smurfit in 1997.
During the great famine approximately 1 million Irish people died and a million more emigrated from Ireland, reducing the island’s population by about 25%. …
Nov 2, 2017
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“Pic of the Week”, September 15, 2017: Merrion Square, Dublin
Merrion Square is a beautiful garden square in south central Dublin. It was laid out after 1762 and was largely completed by the 19th century. It’s a wonderful place to visit when in Dublin, for a casual stroll or picnic or to relax in a bench and do some people-watching.
People like to linger here, but the most popular resident of the park is a colorful statue of Oscar Wilde. Commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group, it was sculpted by Danny Osborne and was unveiled about 20 years ago.
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (1854 – 1900) was an Irish writer and poet who resided across the street from the park. Today he is best remembered for his novel The Picture of …
Sep 14, 2017
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.All Trips / Europe / Ireland
St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
Some have described St. Stephen’s Green as the heart of Dublin. I guess that’s true of most good city parks, and it’s certainly true of St. Stephen’s.
We stayed at a small hotel just a block from St. Stephen’s when we visited Dublin and walked through the park several times a day as we went to and from our varying destinations in the city. It was fall, cool but not cold (although crisp at night), and the leaves were starting to change color and fall to the ground. As with everything else in Ireland, it was a lush green place.
The park goes back to the 17th century, but its current Victorian creation opened in 1880 for all people in Dublin. Rectangular …
Tagged City park, Dublin, Park, St Stephen's Green
.All Trips / Europe / Ireland
Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin
Kilmainham is one of the largest unoccupied prisons in Europe. It’s situated in the west part of Dublin, not far from the famed Guinness Storehouse. There’s a lot of Irish and English history here, including of Irish suppression and rebellion, so it makes for an interesting stop especially if you’re in the city for several days.
The jail opened in 1796 as the Dublin County Jail and as a debtor’s prison. At that time it was considered a model prison, but by modern standards it was a stark and cold place to be confined. It was often used by the British as a political prison, especially to incarcerate those who fought for Irish independence, including those of the firing …
Tagged Dublin, jail, Kilmainham gaol
Europe / Ireland
National Museum of Ireland: Archaeology, Dublin
Today we’ll pay a visit to the Museum of Ireland: Archaeology, situated on Kildare Street. The Archaeology Museum is housed in an elegant dome-capped building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane and his son, Thomas Manly Deane, and was opened in 1890. There are thousands of items on exhibit in the museum (from a collection of more than 2 million artifacts) outlining the unfolding history and treasures of Ireland, a country so very rich in history (less so in treasure). Despite the extensive collection, the museum is well organized. It’s easy to navigate and fun to explore. You’ll need at least a half day for an introductory visit — much longer if you want to linger and thoroughly study the things …
Tagged archaeology, Dublin, gold, museum, National Museum of Ireland