Famine National Monument

Famine National Monument

1997

1845-1852

John Behan

This is a monument commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Famine. It was unveiled by the President of Ireland at the time Mary Robinson. Although there are several monuments and memorials dedicated to the victims of the Great Hunger this memorial depicts the infamous 'Coffin Ships' that transported the poor Irish victims of the famine to America and Canada. The Irish in this bronze sculpture are depicted all around the ships as dead souls. The artist chose to depict them in this manner because the Irish had a very high chance of death aboard these ships to make it to a new life without starvation in America or Canada. Sadly many Irish had to make the hard choice of 'Stay in Ireland and die' or 'take the ship and probably die', the life of the Irish was very bleak during this era. This memorial is at the Croagh Patrick in Murrisk, county Mayo in Ireland, it is one of the more haunting memorials dedicated to the famine.

Wikimedia Creative Commons

Art

Graham Horn

Amanda Dison

Bronze Sculpture