Not far from the Freedom Tower and the financial district’s skyscrapers is a compelling monument to a million Irish men, women and children who died of hunger during the Great Potato Famine of 1845-52, and another million forced by starvation to emigrate to the US. The Irish Hunger Memorial addresses the enormity of hunger and displacement in today’s world.
Created by Brian Tolle for Battery Park City Conservancy in 2002, this multi-layered design is an early 19th century stone cottage from County Mayo, Ireland. The home sits on a raised field at the end of a pathway of thirty-two stones, each marked with the name of the Irish county that donated it. Visitors enter through a dark corridor while voiceovers recount the horrors of Irish Hunger. Wall engravings address the destitution of famine victims through excerpts from poems, letters and, ironically enough, recipes. From the interior a path winds up and out to a quarter-acre plot of barren land planted with grasses, shrubs and flowers native to the Emerald Isle. At the top of the hilly path the grassy overlook faces the Statue of Liberty.
Irish Hunger Memorial 290 Vesey Street