''Anna Livia'' is a bronze monument located in Croppies' Acre Memorial Park in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Ireland. It was formerly located on

O'Connell Street O'Connell Street () is a street in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, running north from the River Liffey. It connects the O'Connell Bridge to the south with Parnell Street to the north and is roughly split into two sections bisected by Henry S ...

Background

Designed by the sculptor Éamonn O'Doherty, the monument was commissioned by businessman Michael Smurfit, in memory of his father, for the

Dublin Millennium In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of areas in the Republic of Ireland held year-long festivals commemorating historic anniversaries. The country was in an economic depression at the time and these were excuses for some civic pride; the anniversari ...

celebrations in 1988. The monument is a personification of the

River Liffey The River Liffey ( Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the Riv ...

(''Abhainn na Life'' in

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

) which runs through the city. Anna Livia Plurabelle is the name of a character in

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bod ...

'' who also embodies the river. In the monument's original location, the river was represented as a young woman sitting on a slope with water flowing past her. Dubliners nicknamed it ''the Floozie in the Jacuzzi'', a nickname that was encouraged by the sculptor. The monument was removed from its site on O'Connell Street in 2001 to make room for the

Spire of Dublin The Spire of Dublin, alternatively titled the Monument of Light ( ga, An Túr Solais), is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument in height, located on the site of the former Nelson's Pillar (and prior to that a statue of William Blakeney) ...

. In late February 2011, partly reworked and refurbished, the statue was relocated to Croppies Memorial Park next to the Liffey, near

Heuston station Heuston Station ( ; ga, Stáisiún Heuston; formerly Kingsbridge Station) also known as Dublin Heuston, is one of Dublin's largest railway stations and links the capital with the south, southwest and west of Ireland. It is operated by Iar ...

Gallery

File:Anna Livia Plurabelle.jpg, ''Anna Livia'' in its earlier O'Connell Street location File:Anna Livia Plurabelle, Better Known As The Floozy In The Jacuzzi ( Croppies Memorial Park) - panoramio (1).jpg, Closeup of ''Anna Livia''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anna Livia (Monument) Monuments and memorials in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Outdoor sculptures in Ireland 1988 sculptures Personifications of rivers