Irish Hunger Memorial
The Irish Hunger Memorial, designed collaboratively by artist Brian Tolle, landscape architect Gail Wittwer-Laird, and architecture firm 1100 Architect, is located on a 0.5-acre (0.20 ha) site[1] at the corner of Vesey Street and North End Avenue in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, and is dedicated to raising awareness of the Great Irish Famine. Referred to by the Irish as An Gorta Mor in Irish Gaelic or "The Great Hunger" in English, the Famine killed over a million people in Ireland between 1845 and 1852. Construction of the memorial began in March 2001, and despite the September 11 attacks on the nearby World Trade Center, which also affected surrounding areas, the memorial was completed and dedicated on July 16, 2002.[2]
The memorial is a uniquely landscaped plot, which utilizes stones, soil, and native vegetation brought in from the western coast of Ireland and contains stones from all of the different counties of Ireland.
The memorial also incorporates an authentic rebuilt Irish cottage of the 19th century.[2] The cottage at the memorial is from Carradoogan in the parish of Attymass in County Mayo. The cottage belonged to the Slack family but was deserted in the 1960s. The Slack family donated the cottage to the memorial in "memory of all the Slack family members of previous generations who emigrated to America and fared well there."[2][3]
Brian Tolle also designed the site-specific sculpture "Outfall, 2015"[4] along the Bow River in Calgary, Alberta — an inverted, computer-generated scale-model of Mount Peechee — representing the glacial origins of the Bow River — which acts as a functional retention pond to hold excess water during heavy rainstorms.[5]
Gallery
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North side, showing gradual rise of the structure
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West side, showing the high end
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Stones placed on the roof with names of the Irish counties
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Passageway connecting the west side to the ruined stone cottage and the roof
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Interior of cottage ruins
See also
References
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External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Irish Hunger Memorial. |
- Architectural Record Magazine Between Two Worlds: Remembering the Hungry By Roger Shepherd
- Jane Holtz Kay Hunger for Memorials: Article from Landscape Architecture, March 2003
- New York City Walk Photo Tour of Irish Hunger Memorial
- New York's garden monument to the Irish Famine Tourist Information Site
- Official website
- Irish Hunger Memorial brochure
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