It is to the Irish what the Eiffel Tower is to the French. The Spire is now one of those emblematic figures that immediately symbolize an entire city, and by extension an entire country. If your feet take you to Dublin’s O’Connell Street, you won’t be able to miss this huge steel column pointing skywards!
Aerial view of O’Connell Street, Dublin – © Irish Drone Photography
The Spire was created in 1999: a 120-metre conical sculpture on O’Connell Street… The Spire actually replaces another column that has now been destroyed: the Nelson Pillar.
This first monument consisted of a granite column almost 37 metres high, topped by a 4-metre statue of Nelson, commemorating the Battle of Trafalgar. It was designed by the architect also responsible for the GPO, Francis Johnson.
From the outset, the Nelson Pillar was very unpopular. The local authorities were opposed to the project, but the Duke of Richmond, the crown’s representative and chief executive, overruled them. Several projects aimed to remove him, including that of Taoiseach Seán Lemass in 1960. There were even plans to replace it with a statue of Patrick Pearse, Saint Patrick or even JFK.
Finally, on the night of March 8 1966, a group of former IRA members planted an explosive charge that shattered the top of the column and sent the statue tumbling. Two days later, army engineers came to destroy what was left of the structure, judged to be dangerous. Ironically, it’s this second phase of destruction that will do the most damage to the other buildings. After a few twists and turns, the statue’s head ended up in Dublin’s Civic Museum.
It wasn’t until 1999, therefore, that the Spire project was born, a sculpture to replace the exact spot where the Nelson column had been built and then destroyed…
The Spire on O’Connell Street – John Flanagan – cc
The Spire is in fact a contemporary sculpture, erected in 2003 in the middle of Dublin’s main street, O’Connell Street. It’s impossible to miss, as it can be seen from several streets around, thanks to its gigantic height.
The Spire takes the form of a conical column, rising to a height of 120 metres from a base 3 metres in diameter. This cone gradually narrows, until it rises to a point, reaching a diameter of 15 cm at the top. The point is lit up every evening by a bluish light, enabling Dubliners to find their way around the city center by using it as a landmark!
It consists of 8 hollow stainless steel tubes, nested one inside the other on a telescopic system. In other words, the sculpture uses modern technology! Its construction cost an astronomical 4 million Euros, which the government gladly paid, considering the new monument to be the new symbol of Dublin.
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