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The steel seat ("James Joyce Seat of Learning") commemorates Ireland’s most famous writer, James Joyce. A brick from Joyce's now demolished childhood home in Drumcondra, is incorporated into the seat.
Brendan Kilty came up with a plan to honor James Joyce's memory after one of the writer's childhood homes was demolished illegally in Ireland in 1989. He decided to purchase 18 truckloads of bricks from the former home at a cost of $4000. His idea for the 63 seats to be placed around the world eventually sprang from a suggestion the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, had made, that a brick should be set into a seat commemorating Joyce at a nearby park.
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century. Joyce is best known for Ulysses (1922).
Location
| Address: | 328 Swanston Street, Forecourt of the State Library of Victoria, Melbourne , 3000 |
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| State: | VIC |
| Area: | Foreign |
| GPS Coordinates: | Lat: -37.809903 Long: 144.964476 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate. |
Details
| Monument Type: | Seat |
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| Monument Theme: | People |
| Sub-Theme: | Foreigners |
| Designer: | Rick Dalmau |
Dedication
| Actual Monument Dedication Date: | Thursday 26th August, 2004 |
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James Joyce
Plaque :
The Brendan Kilty SC James Joyce Seat of Learning
Installed on August 26th 2004
Forecourt, State Library of Victoria
Brick from James Joyce home, Drumcondra, Ireland.
Seat inspired and approved by Mr Brendan Kilty SC, Dublin,Ireland
Melbourne seat initiated by Mary Dalmau
Seat designed by Rick Dalmau, Dalmau Designs
This seat is one of 63 seats being placed in cities around the world
