CELTIC SERPENT SCULPTURE THE GARDENS AT DUBLIN CASTLE
I do not know why there is a large pink box nearby ... you may have noticed it in some of my photographs.
The last time I visited this installation was well hidden behind a hedge and many visitors failed to notice it and even when they did come across it they had some difficulty deciding what it was. I overheard one person describing it as a blue snail but I would described it as a two headed coiled serpent [maybe two snakes]. The serpent was a Celtic symbol for rebirth, healing, and wisdom, due to the cyclical shedding of its skin.
The garden within the grounds of Dublin Castle serves as a helicopter-pad from time to time but it is very popular with locals [especially at lunch hour] and if you are a visitor to the city it is well worth a visit because there is much to see.
Designed in the style of ancient Celtic jewellery the garden lies on the site of the Black Pool or in Irish, Dubh Linn. In Celtic and Viking times the River Poddle, which supplied fresh drinking water and filled the moat of Dublin Castle, also formed a pool at this spot. The Vikings used this pool as a sheltered harbour for their ships. It is from the Dubh Linn pool that Dublin gets its current English name.
There are colourful artworks scattered around the garden - ceramic tiles at the bird bath, a giant glass snake, the memorial to the 2003 Special Olympic, a bust of campaigning (and murdered) journalist Veronica Guerin, immortalised by Cate Blanchett in the film "Veronica Guerin". There is also the Garda Memorial garden.
The last time I visited this installation was well hidden behind a hedge and many visitors failed to notice it and even when they did come across it they had some difficulty deciding what it was. I overheard one person describing it as a blue snail but I would described it as a two headed coiled serpent [maybe two snakes]. The serpent was a Celtic symbol for rebirth, healing, and wisdom, due to the cyclical shedding of its skin.
The garden within the grounds of Dublin Castle serves as a helicopter-pad from time to time but it is very popular with locals [especially at lunch hour] and if you are a visitor to the city it is well worth a visit because there is much to see.
Designed in the style of ancient Celtic jewellery the garden lies on the site of the Black Pool or in Irish, Dubh Linn. In Celtic and Viking times the River Poddle, which supplied fresh drinking water and filled the moat of Dublin Castle, also formed a pool at this spot. The Vikings used this pool as a sheltered harbour for their ships. It is from the Dubh Linn pool that Dublin gets its current English name.
There are colourful artworks scattered around the garden - ceramic tiles at the bird bath, a giant glass snake, the memorial to the 2003 Special Olympic, a bust of campaigning (and murdered) journalist Veronica Guerin, immortalised by Cate Blanchett in the film "Veronica Guerin". There is also the Garda Memorial garden.
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