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.[1][2]
World Poverty Stone UN International Day for the Eradication of World Poverty
Custom House Quay
2008
Stuart McGrath
The Stone is inscribed with the words "Wealth and Poverty," along with the coordinates of Dublin and an excerpt from a poem by Seamus Heaney. The monument was commissioned by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).[5]
Recalls the banded wrapping of the freight containers that would have been shipped into this part of the River Liffey. It was commissioned by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority in 2008 to animate the Bord Gáis above Ground Installation (AGI), which is in fact a depressurisation installation for the distribution of gas within the North Lotts area in the Docklands.[10]
Benches made of recycled plastic recovered from the River Liffey.[11]
Triumphal arch
George's Dock near river Liffey
1813, repositioned 1998
Unknown
Rusticated limestone ashlar arch built in 1813 and until 1998 stood in Amiens Street until it was relocated to the newly redeveloped Custom House Quay area in 1998. A plaque attached to the arch indicates that the arch was re-dedicated to Pat O'Shea for his community work and is dated April 2002. It is said to have originally been constructed to celebrate Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Salamanca and acted for many years as the principal entrance gate to Custom House Quay.
City North East
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.
Bronze work on Kilkenny limestone. It was commissioned by Dublin Corporation as part of the Per Cent for Art Scheme. The work invokes the history of the street, before its redevelopment when children would play on the street.
Inscription reads "These flats have been named Matt Talbot Court to commemorate the servant of God Matt Talbot who for the last 25 years of his life lived in a single room in 18 Upper Rutland Street. This house with many others was demolished to make room for these flats. Its site is marked to the left of this plaque."
City North West
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.
An iron representation of a spiders webs affixed across the side of 53 Mountjoy Street. Commissioned by Dr Austin O’Carroll, whose GP practice used to be located inside the building.[26]
Depicting a modern-day re-enactment of Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper', Byrne added an 'Irish twist' by replacing the Biblical characters with a cast of local Dubliners that reflected a "changing society and the growing cultural mix in Dublin".[27]
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.
[40] The Steine of Long Stone (Ivar the Boneless' Pillar). The original Long Stone it replaced was located near this spot from around the 10th or 11th century and stood 12 to 14 feet high. It was removed in the early 18th century and its whereabouts are now unknown.
A temporary structure was erected in 1923 on Leinster Lawn, this was replaced by this more modern version in 1950.[42] Four wreathed bronze plaques are inset in its base, three bear a low-relief profile of Griffith, Collins and O'Higgins. The fourth contains an inscription in Irish: "Do chum glóire Dé agus onóra na hÉireann".[a]
Originally part of the Queen Victoria statue which stood outside Leinster House on Kildare Street side. See Past Public Art section below.[43] Returned to Leinster House in 2001.
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.
A selection of ceramic tiles with quotes about love and heartbreak, lyrics, poetry and Irish wit submitted by the public to the artist via social media.[54]
Participative arts project in which members of the public sponsored trees (around 635 in all) to be planted across all neighbourhoods of Ballymun during the regeneration of the area; a plaza and map monumental aspect has yet to be completed.
'River Run' was designed by Dublin City Council Parks and Landscape Services to honour Dublin's designation as a UNESCO City of Literature. It is an element of a quote from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake
The original folly was taken from Templeogue house and later moved to Luggala where it remains as a protected structure as of 2023. The current temple is a facsimile of the original.
Donated to UCD by Peter Sutherland. It is based on a small sculpture made by Rowan Gillespie in 1991 in response to a philosophical argument about the Iraq war.
Commemorates Skerries winning the Tidy Towns competition in 2016
The Skerries and Loughshinny Sea Pole
Skerries, Dublin
2013
Shane Holland
A memorial for those lost to the sea. The climbable pole was a lifesaving part of the 'Apparatus' system used by the coastguard in the rescuing of ships in distress off the Skerries coast.
King's design was chosen from 97 entries, and was made from reinforced concrete and Dublin granite.[89] It is 55ft high.[89] In October 1989, Minister for the Environment Pádraig Flynn commented that the sculpture would be "a big attraction to all our visitors who come to visit Ireland - they will see that we are committed to not just the environment, but also to the cultural aspects".[89]
1862–1959 replacing the original Viking Long Stone
John Kirk
Collapsed in 1959 and subsequently removed. Nicknames included "The Pineapple" and "The Cauliflower".[104] It was subsequently replaced by Cliodhna Cussen'sThe Steine of Long Stone in 1986.
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.[106]
Removed in 1948 as part of moves by the Irish State towards declaring a Republic, put on display in Sydney, Australia in 1987.[107][108] The smaller bronze statues are held in storage within the grounds of the National museum overflow facility at St Conleth's Reformatory School.
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[109]
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.[115]
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.[116] In the manner of a similar statue by Peter Scheemakers.
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.
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.[117]
^Bought by a member of the Guinness family from the Office of Public Works. It was loaned to Humphrey Wakefield of Chillingham Castle. It is on loan until the people of Ireland want it returned.
^Burke, Tom (2004). "In Memory of Lieutenant Tom Kettle, 'B' Company, 9th Royal Dublin Fusiliers". Dublin Historical Record. 57 (2): 164–173. JSTOR30101500.