As my daughter and I were going out of Dublin the following day we decided to take advantage of the second day in the capital city and try to see as much as we could.
After having had a copious Irish breakfast we set off in the direction of the river Liffey's north bank to see the 18th century Customs House. As we were walking along Beresford Place we came across a statue of representing James Connolly, an Irish Republican and socialist leader who was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising in 1916.
The four façades of the Neo-Classical building of the Customs House were richly adorned with sculpted keystones symbolising the rivers of Ireland as well as the Coats of arms. On the main façade pediment Hibernia was to be seen embracing Britannia while Neptune seemed to be driving away famine and despair. Above the pediment stood four more figures symbolising Neptune, Mercury, Industry and Plenty, though it wasn't but when we went across the river that we realised how majestic the building was.
Still on the North bank side we visited the Famine Memorial, an ensemble of famine looking statues designed and crafted by the Dublin sculptor Rowan Gillespie. They are said to have been placed in that particular quay because it was from there that the ship "Perseverance" is said to have sailed from with 210 passengers on board during the 19th century famine period, which forced many Irish people to emigrate.
I was really impressed by the lean and emaciated looking life-size statues, whose sculpted expressions left no doubt as to what that difficult period must have been like.
(To be continued)
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