Urban symbols – Photo #4 of 2010
This is the (relatively) new Samuel Beckett Bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin. Shaped like a harp, I think it is a structure of great beauty.
Tags: Dublin, photographs, photography, Samuel Beckett Bridge
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University Blog 
May 30, 2010 at 3:33 am
For those of us less close to the Liffey these days, where exactly is the bridge? I recognise the towers on the far left, of course, but can’t pinpoint the location from there.
May 30, 2010 at 11:50 pm
Wendy, it connects Sir John Rogerson’s Quay and North Wall Quay.
May 31, 2010 at 12:58 am
Aha – east of the Customs House. Got it! I like the design very much.
May 30, 2010 at 6:56 am
It takes all sorts I suppose, but to me it looks like a very nasty fish-bone. Harp, my eye. If that’s a harp someone needs to pull a coin out of the pocket.
It was such a shame they went asymmetrical, there is just a bit much of it about the place nowadays. One was grand.
But I hadn’t realised that it was suspended from the south-side, for some reason I thought it the other way.
Still, it does add a shake something to an especially bland Euro-city skyline.
May 30, 2010 at 11:59 pm
Actually, Vincent, I really do think that it adds something to the Liffey. It’s an interesting and (to me) rather pleasing design.
May 31, 2010 at 12:17 am
Yes Ferdinand, I think it adds something good also. My comment had to do with the idea that it looks like a Harp. However I was hoping for something that would be Dublin in the way Tower Bridge sorta nails London.
And I think it does look like a Whalebone of sorts. Next time you’re over at UCG, ask them to show you their Whales Jaw-bone. It’s in the left corner stairwell having passed under the clock.
Anyhooos, I’m certain some wag will come up with riveting tag for the thing.
May 31, 2010 at 12:47 am
Is it true that it was painted to stop swans crashing into it? I am a culchie and sometimes fall for such gags.