Qualla: Spire of Dublin

Spire of Dublin: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User:Vmenkov, CC BY-SA 3.0. There was a hole in the middle of O'Connell Street for thirty-seven years. On 8 March 1966 - the fiftieth anniversary, less than two months out, of the Easter Rising - a small republican explosive charge cut the top off Nelson's Pillar, the 134-foot Doric column from 1809 that had carried a statue of Admiral Horatio Nelson over the centre of Dublin for over a century and a half. The Irish Army demolished what was left of the column a few days later, less surgically. The street had a gap in its skyline. The Anna Livia fountain went in for the 1988 city millennium, then was moved away again. It took until 21 January 2003 before the eighth and final stainless steel cone was lifted into place 120 metres above the pavement, and Dublin had a new central spike - the Monument of Light.

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Image: User:Vmenkov | CC BY-SA 3.0

Spire of Dublin: Replacing a Ghost

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gary Barber, CC BY-SA 2.0. The 1998 international design competition was launched as part of a multi-million-euro redevelopment of O'Connell Street during the Celtic Tiger years. Shop signs were being replaced. Traffic lanes were being narrowed. The committee, chaired by then-Lord Mayor Joe Doyle, sought '...

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Image: Gary Barber | CC BY-SA 2.0

Spire of Dublin: Eight Cones, 133 Tonnes

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0. The structure is eight hollow stainless steel cones stacked on top of each other, the longest twenty metres, the whole assembly weighing 133.15 tonnes. The steel was shot-peened - bombarded with fine pellets - to give the surface a particular matte quality that catches light diff...

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Image: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK | CC BY 2.0

Spire of Dublin: The Stiffy by the Liffey

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CGP Grey, CC BY 2.0. Dubliners do not let any piece of public art keep its given name. Within months the Spire had collected nicknames: the Stiletto in the Ghetto, the Pin in the Bin, the Stiffy by the Liffey, the Spike, the Spire in the Mire, the Erection at the Intersection. Some of these were affe...

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Image: CGP Grey | CC BY 2.0

Spire of Dublin: Lightsabers and Portals

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Almbauer, Public domain. In December 2015 a large prop lightsaber hilt was installed at the base of the Spire to mark the Irish premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens; for several weeks the entire 120-metre needle was lit blue at night. In May 2024 the Spire became the Dublin half of The Portal, an art...

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Image: Almbauer | Public domain

Spire of Dublin: A Needle on a River

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shaddack, CC BY-SA 3.0. Stand at the base now and look straight up. The Spire tapers to a sliver against the sky. Look at it from the river, from O'Connell Bridge, and the whole column reads as a single silver line crossing the Dublin skyline - visible from kilometres away, sometimes only visible becaus...

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Image: Shaddack | CC BY-SA 3.0