Nicknamed the Floozie in the Jacuzzi almost as soon as it appeared, the Anna Livia monument is a reclining bronze figure set in a pool of flowing water, a personification of the River Liffey that runs through Dublin. It was commissioned by the businessman Michael Smurfit in memory of his father and unveiled in 1988 to mark the city's millennium celebrations. The sculpture, by the Derry-born artist Eamonn O'Doherty, takes its name from Anna Livia Plurabelle, the character in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake who herself embodies the river, the name echoing the Irish Abhainn na Life. The figure was designed with a surrounding bench intended to give passers-by somewhere to sit in the middle of the busy city. Originally placed in the centre of O'Connell Street, the fountain quickly attracted both affection and mockery, gathering litter and the occasional dose of washing-up liquid that sent foam across the street, along with a string of rhyming nicknames from Dubliners. In 2001 it was removed to make way for the Spire of Dublin and then spent a decade in storage. In 2011, refurbished and slightly reworked, the statue was floated up its namesake river to a new home in Croppies Acre Memorial Park near Heuston Station and Collins Barracks. The small riverside park, beside ground associated with the 1798 rebellion, has proved a calmer and more fitting setting than the crowded main street. The relocation gave the much-debated artwork a quieter second life, where it sits among mature trees beside a small pond. For visitors interested in Dublin's public art and its literary connections to Joyce, Anna Livia is a curiosity with a tangled history that says much about the city's changing tastes. The park is a short walk from Heuston Station and the National Museum at Collins Barracks, so the sculpture is easily folded into a wider walk along the river or a museum visit. Free to view at any time, it makes an unhurried stop rather than a major attraction, rewarding those curious about the city's recent past and its often irreverent relationship with public monuments. The story of a grand civic gift that became the butt of jokes, was banished, and then quietly rehomed says a good deal about how Dublin has treated its public art over the decades, and Anna Livia now rests in one of its more peaceful corners.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Dublin, Ireland

Opening Date: 01/01/1988