This is a list of public art on permanent public display in Dublin, Ireland. The list applies only to works of public art accessible in a public space; it does not include artwork on display inside museums. Public art may include sculptures, statues, monuments, memorials, murals and mosaics.
Public art in Dublin is a significant feature of the cityscape. The city's statues and other monuments have a long history of controversy about their subjects and designs, and a number of formerly prominent monuments have been removed or destroyed. Some of the city's monuments have nicknames, though many are not in popular use.
This area of the city is bounded to the west by O'Connell Street, Parnell Square East, North Frederick Street, and Lower Dorset Street. To the north it is bounded by the Royal Canal, and to the south by the Liffey Quays. To the east it includes the North Wall.
This area of the city is bounded to the east by O'Connell Street, Parnell Square East, North Frederick Street, and Lower Dorset Street. To the north and west it is bounded by the North Circular Road and to the south by the Liffey Quays.
This area of the city is bounded to the west by Westmoreland Street, Trinity College, Grafton Street, St. Stephens Green West, and Harcourt Street. To the north it is bounded by the Liffey Quays, and to the south by the Grand Canal. To the east it includes Irishtown and Ringsend. Locations within this area with their own article subsections such as St. Stephen's Green are excluded.
This area of the city is bounded to the east by Westmoreland Street, Trinity College, Grafton Street, St. Stephens Green West, and Harcourt Street. To the north it is bounded by the Liffey Quays, and to the south by the Grand Canal. To the west it is bounded by the South Circular Road.
| Image | Title / subject | Location | Date | Artist / designer | Notes and references | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equestrian Statue of George I | Initially at Essex Bridge, later at the Mansion House | 1789–1922 | John Nost | Initially erected on Essex Bridge (now Grattan Bridge) in 1722, and removed in 1755. It was later re-erected in the garden of the Mansion House in 1789, where it stood until 1922. In 1937, it was sold to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham, England, where it stands as of 2023.[1] | ||
| George II | St Stephen's Green | 1758–1937 | John van Nost the younger | Blown up on 13 May 1937, the day after the coronation of George VI.[2] | ||
| Archibald Montgomerie | St Stephen's Green | 1866–1958 | Patrick MacDowell | Destroyed in August 1958 in an explosion by the IRA, two Gardaí and a civilian were injured in the bombing.[3] [4] | ||
| William of Orange | College Green | 1701–1929 | Grinling Gibbons | Damaged after explosion on anniversary of Armistice Day in 1928, and subsequently removed in 1929.[5] Melted down in 1946. | ||
| Sir Philip Crampton | College Street | 1862–1959 replacing the original Viking Long Stone | John Kirk | Collapsed in 1959 and subsequently removed. Nicknames included "The Pineapple" and "The Cauliflower".[6] It was subsequently replaced by Cliodhna Cussen's The Steine of Long Stone in 1986. | ||
| Griffith-Collins Cenotaph | Leinster House, Kildare Street | 1923–1939 | George Atkinson | Structure had become dilapidated and was removed in 1939. It was replaced in 1950 by current obelisk on Leinster Lawn (see above)[7] | ||
| The Market Cross | The junction of High Street and Skinner's Row (now Christchurch Place) near the city tholsel | Early Medieval | Unknown | Its earliest confirmed identification is from a public punishment in 1571. The last remaining drawing of the cross is by John Simmons in 1776. It was then taken down sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century and its whereabouts are unknown.[8] | ||
| Queen Victoria | Leinster House, Kildare Street | 1904–1948 | John Hughes | Removed in 1948 as part of moves by the Irish State towards declaring a Republic, put on display in Sydney, Australia in 1987.[9] [10] The smaller bronze statues are held in storage within the grounds of the National museum overflow facility at St Conleth's Reformatory School. | ||
| Nelson's Pillar | O'Connell Street | 1809–1966 | Francis Johnston, William Wilkins, Thomas Kirk | Blown up in 1966 on the 50th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. The head of Nelson's statue was rescued, and is currently on display in the Dublin City Library and Archive on Pearse Street[11] | ||
| William Blakeney | O'Connell Street | 1759–1782 | John van Nost the younger | Removed sometime before 1782[12] | ||
| Bowl of Light | O'Connell Bridge | 1953–1963 | Erected to mark inauguration of An Tóstal festival. Flames of sculpture thrown into the Liffey in 1953. Remainder dismantled in 1963.[13] [14] [15] | |||
| Sir Alexander Macdonnell | Marlborough Street | 1878–1958 | Thomas Farrell[16] | Originally located in front of Tyrone House within the grounds of the Department of Education. Now stored in the grounds of the National museum overflow facility at St Conleth's Reformatory School.[17] | ||
| Gough Monument | Phoenix Park | 1878–1957 | John Henry Foley | Blown up in 1957, it was later restored and re-erected in the grounds of Chillingham Castle, England, in 1990. | ||
| William Shakespeare | Riversdale House, Kilmainham | 1725-1969 | Unknown | The house was built around 1725 in stone for Dublin lawyer John Fitzpatrick who sold it shortly after to a legal colleague Simon Bradstreet. The house had extensive formal gardens and a stone statue of Shakespeare on the front. It later became tenements in the late 19th and early 20th century. The whereabouts of the statue today are unknown.[18] In the manner of a similar statue by Peter Scheemakers. | ||
| George II | Weavers' Hall, The Coombe | 1750-1937 | John van Nost the younger | It was erected in a niche on the front of Weavers' Hall in the Coombe to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. It was taken down as it was feared that it may be blown up by Republicans and today the remains are held within the collections of the Dublin Civic Museum. | ||
| Frederick the Great | Prussia Street, Dublin | 1760-? | Patrick Cunningham | Metal bust installed on the niche of a house on Cabragh Lane, which was then to be renamed Prussia Street in honour of Frederick the Great who was celebrating his 49th birthday. The bust was apparently executed by Patrick Cunningham a former apprentice of John van Nost the younger.[19] | ||
| George Howard | Phoenix Park | 1870–1958 | John Henry Foley | The statue was dislodged by a bomb 28 July 1958 and moved to Castle Howard in Yorkshire. The pedestal remains in place as a memorial.[20] | ||
| Millennium Clock | River Liffey | March to August 1996 | ||||
| The Point Rocket | 2006–? | |||||
| Three Bears with Attitude | North Wall Quay (3Arena) | 2009–2017 | Patrick O'Reilly | Removed in 2017, current whereabouts unknown.[21] | ||
| Aspiration – Liberty Scaling the Heights | Grand Canal Street | 1995–2020 | Rowan Gillespie | Removed in 2020[22] [23] | ||
| Gateway | Marine Road, Dún Laoghaire | 2002-2009 | Michael Warren | Removed in 2009. Returned to the artist in 2015 in exchange for an alternative work entitled 'Angel Negro'.[24] |
Sources
