College Green

< The corner of College Green and Grafton Street, where the Irish Whiskey Museum is located as well as the Tourist Office.

Dublin’s coat of arms is on the façade (three castles or gates).

College Green was previously known as Hoggen Green, a Norse word – Dublin having been founded and named by the Vikings in parts.

This junction in Dublin is always very busy and, unfortunately, not traffic-free. Although, it may soon become a pedestrian zone, with access for cyclists - and by the look of the rails, the tram also… What about the horses?

On this occasion, road works added to the overall organised chaos, Irish style…

On one side of the T-junction is Trinity College which attracts so many visitors – some may well be students! http://picturesofdubhlinn.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/trinity-college.html

On the northern side is the Bank of Ireland in a building called Parliament House >

As well as being surrounded by road works, it was framed by scaffoldings and cranes as part of its 11-month long renovation.

The Bank of Ireland is located in the building constructed in 1729 to house the Parliament of Ireland, an institution made redundant in 1800, when the Act of Union was signed: the Kingdom of Ireland (state of Great Britain) ceased to exist and became part of a newly named United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a single parliament, meeting at Westminster in London - where around 100 members represented the constituencies in Ireland.

To simplify: the Parliament of Ireland goes back to the 13^th century and its main role was to approve the taxes decided by the British administration at Dublin Castle, the whole of Ireland being under English/British rule until 1922, no matter what the wording and names had been. Over the centuries, the Parliament met at various places, including  Christ Church Cathedral (15^th c.) and Dublin Castle (mid 17^th c.)

Eventually, this imposing Parliament House was built and was in fact the world's first purpose-built two-chamber parliament house. They were called the Commons and the Lords, like in London.

The current Irish Parliament for the Republic of Ireland meets at Leinster House, a much low key building on Kildare Street.

< The Ulster Bank across the road was easier to photograph.

< This is the Thomas Davis statue and memorial fountain, a double bronze monument made by Edward Delaney, using the lost-wax casting technique. It was unveiled in 1966.

Davis (1814-1845) was a writer and patriot, part of the Young Ireland movement (Irish Nationalism).

Its slogan was “A Nation Once Again” after a song by Thomas Davis.

He was educated at Trinity College. He wished for Catholic and Protestants to work together and clashed with Daniel O’Connell on the subject.

The fountain is called Four Angels, but allegedly nicknamed the peeing angels.

The four figures are seen blowing their trumpet or flute, probably a reference to the song.

They represent the four provinces of Ireland, while the tablets around the base of the fountain feature scenes of the 1840s Great Famine.

The dates on this plaque in Irish commemorates the centenary of Davis’s death >

On this spot used to be a renowned sculpture of King William III on horseback, which was victim of an explosion after the independence of Ireland (the monument, not William of Orange…)

Another famous statue based on a well-known Irish song is down this Church Lane, at the foot of St Andrew’s Church (the spire in the pic):
see the Molly Malone Statue in this separate post http://picturesofdubhlinn.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/molly-malone.html