The O'Connell Monument is a 40 ft high commemorative granite and bronze monument honouring nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell (1775–1847) located on O'Connell Street, the main thoroughfare of Dublin, Ireland. The monument consists of a two-ton Dalkey granite foundation stone, on top of which are seated four winged victories (at angles), encircled above by a bronze frieze of over 30 figures in high-relief symbolizing Irish culture, surmounted at the top by the tall cloaked figure of O'Connell (at about 2.5 times life-size) looking southwards. A small pile of books lies at the base of O'Connell's left leg. The O'Connell Monument was unveiled to the public on 15 August 1882 and the newly widened Carlisle Bridge was renamed O'Connell Bridge in honour of its new main focal point. What is now known as O'Connell Street, however, would remain named as Sackville Street until 1924.
History
Conception After O'Connell's death in May 1847, it was considered prudent to create a monument befitting of the man's legacy, and, if completed by 1875, could also celebrate the centenary of his birth. In 1864, the project was commissioned. This would not be the first statue of O'Connell to be raised in Ireland however, since one was already in place in Limerick and another in preparation for Ennis. However, as art historian Paula Murphy notes, these two commemorations "had a domestic flavour smacking almost of parochialism." According to Murphy:
The monument for the central thoroughfare in the capital city carried much wider national significance, in this instance of a Catholic nature. This was the first Catholic figure to be given such a public commemoration, and the only statue of a Catholic erected on the streets of Dublin in the nineteenth century. Such was the importance of this commission that it was accompanied by a very public debate which highlights issues of Irishness and insecurity.
Funding A fund for the Dublin monument was promoted by several newspapers and the hierarchy authorised church door collections to achieve this aim. A committee naming itself the O'Connell Monument Committee was established following a public meeting in the Prince of Wales Hotel on Sackville Street, and adopted the resolution that "the monument would be to O'Connell in his whole character and career, from the cradle to the grave so as to embrace the whole nation." Sub-committees were set up in the provinces, and financial help was also received from as far away as New Zealand and South Africa. It was noted in the O'Connell Street Monument Report (2003) commissioned by Dublin City Council that, at the time, "the decision to commemorate Daniel O'Connell with a monument in Sackville Street was an important move away from commemorating only members of the Castle administration or the British royal family", which had been the case up until that point. As noted by art historian Paula Murphy in the Irish Arts Review Yearbook 1994, "The royal monuments to be seen in central Dublin in the first half of the nineteenth century dated from the 1700s and functioned not just as works of art, but as constant reminders of Ireland's continuing domination by a foreign power." However, concurrent to the drive to fund a monument to O'Connell, plans to erect a memorial to Prince Albert (1819–1861) were also underway in Dublin at the same time, with Dublin Corporation having already granted a location for this in front of the old Parliament House in 1864.
Foundation stone On 8 August 1864, having already collected £8,362, the first stage of the monument's construction was achieved by the installation of a two-ton Dalkey granite foundation stone by Lord Mayor of Dublin Peter Paul McSwiney (a distant relative of O'Connell's). Delegations from all over Ireland were in attendance at the ceremony. The delegates from Belfast were mobbed by Orangemen on their return home followed by "days of sectarian riots" in the city, according to a 1969 article by The Irish Independent.
Design competition Dublin Corporation took over responsibility of the monument thenceforth, and a competition for the design of the sculpture was initiated with a closing date of 1 January 1865. 60 designs were submitted and were described in the Irish Builder trade journal and exhibited in the City Hall, however all designs were eventually rejected by the committee. With no resident Irish winner of the competition, Irish sculptor John Henry Foley, living in England and then working on the Albert Memorial amongst other commissions, took on the project. Murphy notes that "While nationalism as a fundamental concern in the selection of an artist was considered to be both isolationist and restricting, nonetheless those who felt 'that nothing great can be done upon our own soil and that everything great is to be sought in foreign lands' were instrumental in reinforcing a troubling sense of inferiority amongst the Irish." Foley exhibited his model for the work in Dublin in 1867, and in August 1871, presented a progress report to the Corporation complaining of ill health and other work commitments which had been delaying his progress. Foley died in 1874 and his assistant Thomas Brock was formally commissioned in June 1878 to take his place.
Unveiling The O'Connell Monument was finally unveiled to the public on 15 August 1882 "with much splendour" by Lord Mayor Charles Dawson, eight years after Foley's death. According to Murphy:
By this time the memory of Daniel O'Connell was no longer simply that of a glorified nationalist hero, and the unveiling, though treated as an occasion of public celebration, produced mixed feelings. The newspapers felt it necessary to warn the anti-O'Connellites of the need to behave with propriety. The confrontational nature of the statues on the streets of the capital became more evident as the century was drawing to a close. Just days after the O'Connell unveiling, a crowd of several hundred people surrounded the statue of William III in College Green yelling and throwing stones. The rioting and damage to the monument resulted in arrests.
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