Merrion Square

Merrion Square is one of my favorite spots in Dublin City. I am very lucky to work on the square in an office that overlooks the park.
The square itself is made up of beautiful Georgian houses from the 1760’s all centered around an 11 acre park. The houses have fantastic coloured doors that are synonymous with Dublin all over the world. There are many stories behind the colours of the door but my favourite one goes like this — George Moore and Oliver St. John Gogarty were neighbours on Ely place and were both fond of the drink. On various occasions they came home drunk and as their houses looked so similar went into the wrong house and ended up in bed with the wrong wife. The ladies of the house were not impressed so agreed one would paint their door green and the other red so there would be no more confusion. This apparently started a trend and soon all of the houses had brightly coloured doors like you can see today.
Many of the houses are very preserved and still have the fanlights about the hall door, some with a place for a lantern. On the pavement outside you might notice round metal discs on the pavement — these were where the coal for the house would have been delivered. In #29 (on the corner of Fitzwillam Street) you can visit a house that has been restored as it would have been in 1800. Famous residents of the square include Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats and Daniel O’Connell.
The park in the centre of the square was owned by the Catholic Church and they had plans to build a cathedral here. They decided instead to build the Pro-​Cathedral on Marlborough Street so in 1974 they handed the park over to the city council and it has been a public park ever since. The park was until recent times named «Arch Bishop Ryan Park» as he was responsible for the park being handed over — however as he was implicated in some unsavory events the park was renamed Merrion Square Park.
I love this park it has so many really interesting pieces of art not to mention a WWII air raid shelter with several tunnels beneath. My favorite is the jesters chair which is a memorial for Dermot Morgan a.k.a Father Ted. One you might walk by without noticing is the display of Dublin’s various lamp posts throughout the years. There are 25 in total and some tell you of their original location like «Grafton Street». There is also a really great sculpture called «Tribute Head» that you will see in my photos — It was put there as a tribute to Nelson Mandela. When Mandela was released from prison, the Tribute Head became the location of a large celebration.
The playgorund has recently (late 2015) been refurbed and they did a great job. Te theme is «The Giants Garden» with all sorts of over sized items. There is a food market in the park on a Thursday and monthly there is art displayed around the outside railings.

Gorgeous park in the city centre where you can escape the madness and unwind.
From around March/​April every year they hold an outdoor cinema, usually every week or so. When the weather starts to get warmer in the evenings, the outdoor cinema is such a fantastic idea.
The Irish Village Markets also open some lovely food stalls during the showings so you definitely won’t go hungry!
It’s definitely something that should be on your list to experience in Dublin so keep an eye out for its return!

Un petit parc très sympathique en plein coeur de Dublin. Vous pourrez notamment y admirer une statue splendide d’Oscar Wilde qui vaut à elle-​seule le détour !

Nice leafy park, framed by Georgian townhouses. Was passing through during a weekday lunchtime and it was fairly busy with local workers eating their lunches and people out for a stroll.

It has a really fun small kids area. Lots of walking trails. The flowers are beautiful and the place is lush.
There are grassy areas in the open to enjoy the sun — when it is out.
Tip: Sundays they have art vendors around the outside of the square. Worth a walk and enjoy the art!

De l’extérieur, le parc m’a séduit par ses portes colorées, ses grilles recouvertes d’œuvres artistiques (photos, peinture … les artistes y exposent et vendent leurs créations), ce sentiment cocooning.
Le cadre alentour est un plaisir visuel avec de grandes maisons à l’architecture irl/​anglaise et de nombreuses plaques indiquant où habitèrent des célébrités locales. (Oscar Wilde, bonjour!)
Parc situé en plein centre ville, qui a son petit charme, ses jeux pour enfants, ses grandes plaines verdoyantes, ses arbres immenses et ses multiples bancs favorisant le calme, le repos, le bien être, le plaisir d’une lecture, d’une discussion, d’un piqué nique … Ce n’est pas mon parc dublinois «coup de cœur «, mais il est quand même plaisant et agréable !
Oh, mention spéciale pour la statue d’Oscar Wilde et le monument aux morts !
Bien souvent, il y a des petites animations, des expositions, des rencontres au sein de ce parc

Die ruhigere und schönere Alternative zum St. Stephens Green. An den Außengittern des Parks stellen lokale und überregionale ihre Bilder aus, welche z.T. wunderbare Werke darstellen und dafür teilweise wirklich günstig sind, vergleicht man die Preise mit den Galerien. Zudem gibt es dort eine für ihn passende Skultur, gemeint ist Oskar Wilde. Komisch, dass gerade diese Ecke des Parks so nach Hasch riecht?
Für Kinder sicher eine Aufgabe im Park die intakten Lampen zu zählen — ich glaube es sind fast alle in irgendeiner Form zerstört…

This park has such a pleasant atmosphere. I prefer it to its big sister up the road St Stepgen’s Green… not so stuffed with people. Just the right amount to create a nice atmosphere. It seems well maintained and the walkways are lovely to stroll around through. Only tiny downside are the seats. A quick clean down wouldn’t go amiss during the summer months.

The new playground is a great addition. There are some nice quiet areas here. Check an events calendar for some fun things to do. The food market is great.

Merrion Square, located south of the River Liffey in Dublin’s city centre, is the home of wealthy Georgian houses, famous former residents, and Merrion Square Park.
Originally, Merrion Square Park in the square was named «Archbishop Ryan Park», after the Catholic archbishop, Dermot Ryan. The park was renamed in 2010 to Merrion Square after Ryan was criticised in the Murphy Report. Only residents with possession of a private key had access to Merrion Park until the 1960’s. Today the park is open to the public. Merrion Park has many noteworthy sights including a statue of Oscar Wilde, many sculptures and a collection of old Dublin lamp standards, the public art piece, «Éire» designed by Jerome Connor, and a sculpture of a Jester’s Chair in memory of Father Ted star Dermot Morgan.
Merrion Square is one of the few lush green squares in Dublin and warrants a visit if you are in the area.

I love this park and feel so lucky to have this in my «backyard» for over two years while living in Dublin. You could pretty much find me here every weekend, without exaggeration. This is my favorite of the city parks and a park where I spent so much time with my son from the time after he just learned to walk and was stumbling through the grassy central part of the park, dodging flower displays, until he was zipping down the pathways on his strider bike.
This is such a photogenic park all throughout the year. Whether it be the ever changing flower displays, the statues strewn throughout the park or the beautiful foliage and pathways. In summer the trees are so full, you can barely see outside the park and you feel transported out of the city center. The flower displays are in full form. In fall, you can crunch through the fallen color changing leaves. In winter, the trees start to look sparse, transforming the park to view the Georgian landscapes behind it. In spring, the trees begin to fill out once again, the tulips are on display and the park returns to its beautiful summer form.
Don’t miss the Oscar Wilde statues, the children’s park (recent upgraded in summer 2014), mole hill and weekend artists display along the fences.

Merrion Square is the perfect city park. The list of reasons is endless. First look at the photo evidence, beautiful flowers, vibrant festivals, Oscar Wilde lounging on a rock.
Merrion Square is laid out in such a way that although it’s a small park you could easily spend half an hour wandering and discovering new corners to explore. There are wide open spaces, hills to tumble down, strikingly beautiful flower beds, one the coolest playgrounds I’ve ever seen, curious public art and secluded areas to canoodle in.
Throughout the year Merrion Square hosts a variety of festivals as well as regular outdoor film screenings by the Happenings and a Thursday food market.
And if it starts to rain you can take cover in the Natural History Museum or The Gingerman.

Havin’ a great time as usual in Merrion Square, drinking a great white chocolate mocha from Hänsel and Gretel while enjoying the last sunbeam of the day! I warmly recommend this after a long and hard day of work! It is magic to recharge you battery :) Cheers

I love this park so much and for lots of different reasons.
I love how tangled the wooded areas are, a little untamed. It’s beautiful throughout the seasons and particularly lovely in spring. I also really appreciate the design of this park. It isn’t all that big, but has so many interesting nooks and crannies that I always find somewhere new to enjoy or a nice quiet sport to read a book or just sit in nature for a while.

I love this park! It’s a great place to soak up some rays on a sunny day or to escape the hustle and bustle of the city just outside the gates. There’s even free «opera in the park» events during the summer. Check it out!
My only complaint is that there aren’t many benches in some areas of the park. But there is tons of grassy space!

The absolute best thing about my job is that when the good weather hits I can be in Merrion Square park within 30 seconds.
It is a beautifully maintained park, and usually a lot quieter than Stephen’s Green.
The summer is filled with excellent events from the Soul Picnic to the weekly lunchtime opera.
It’s a lovely place for a stroll in any season.

Always lots going on here — from the comparative hum-​drum of the Art sale every weekend on the railings outside to the bonkers world street performance championships (
).
It is an utterly pleasant and relaxing place to wander around!

300 Meter von St. Stephens Green entfernt liegt inmitten des georgianischen Dublins der Merrion Square, dessen Zentrum ein mittelgroßer Park bildet. Dort geht es nach meinem Eindruck jedenfalls bei irischem Wetter etwas ruhiger zu als drüben. Am südlichen Ende des Parks stehen zahlreiche Künstler, die teilweise richtig tolle Bilder verkaufen.
Zu Beginn des Parks stößt man direkt auf das vor wenigen Jahren errichtete Irish War Memorial, das mit einer ewigen Flamme in seinem Inneren den Gefallenen gedenkt.
Durch den Park führen dann mehrere schmale Wege zu großen Grünflächen und schön angelegten Bepflanzungen, die sich winters natürlich nur erahnen lassen:
Mir unbekannte Kunstwerke säumen den Weg,
bevor am anderen Ende des Parks wieder Touristenmassen dem großen Oscar Wilde huldigen, der hier seit 1997 in Richtung seines Geburtshauses blickt:
Ihm gegenüber steht die ebenfalls von Danny Osbourne gestaltete Statue einer schwangeren Frau, die sehnsüchtig in Richtung des Dichters blickt. Wegen der zahlreichen Touristen habe ich mir das sehr schöné Photo des Vorqypers
ausgeborgt:

Merrion Square is a gorgeous Georgian-​era park, well-​manicured and much quieter than its more famous Dublin counterpart, St. Stephen’s Green. There’s a statue of Oscar Wilde lying in a green smoking jacket with red lapels in one corner of the park and a memorial pyramid with an eternal flame dedicated to the Irish armed forces in another part. Immaculately tended flower beds of marigolds decorate the expansive lawns. Sitting on one of the benches along the many walkways provides a moment of welcome calm, especially if you have imbibed one Guinness too many into your digestive system.
Those aspects on their own should really be enough of a lure to come here on your next visit to this unassuming city. But I came for another reason. The doors. Yes, the vibrantly colorful front doors of the Georgian townhouses that surround three sides of the park. As you can see, they are intensely photogenic (see photos). In order to set themselves apart, the former residents painted their front doors whatever color they fancied, added ornate knockers, elegant fanlights above the door, and wrought iron boot scrapers, near the the entrance. Long since converted into office space, the portals retain their original eye-​catching glory. Well worth the stroll and snapshots to create your own colorful montage of Dublin’s doors.

This may very well be my favorite park in Dublin.
Here’s why: One fine day I strolled into the park for the first time with a visiting friend. There aren’t many ‘fine days’ in Dublin; so, when you stroll in to the park and find several chairs scattered on the lawn beckoning you to take in the sunshine while it’s available, well, need I go on???
It’s quiet and there’s something for everyone — a place for solitude, a space for children, paths for walking and taking in the greenery, and a vast spread of green green grass for basking and picnicking. There’s even a kiosk to purchase hot beverages.
If you’re able and willing, rent a bike from Dublin Bikes and park it in one of the two stations outside the square (your first half hour of biking is free!) Then stroll in the park and enjoy your afternoon in the sun (when it’s shining :)

Its a maze of smaller greens… always somewhere to hide or enjoy the peace on a sunny lunchtime. Its even nice in the rain with the smell of all the greenery and the changing of the seasons
Central, quiet and calming

I love walking through this park. Close to the city centre and surrounded by gorgeous Georgian buildings makes this a great place to visit and admire Dublin architecture and enjoy the lush greenery.

La verdad es que esta pequeña escultura dentro de Merrion Square en Dublín no deja insatisfecho a nadie. Es tierna, dulce, envuelta en un entorno verde y de poesía y, hablando de poesía, cerca del memorial y monumento al poeta Oscar Wilde. Una decisión muy acertada haber ubicado esta escultura ahí.

Merrion Square Park is another fine example of the many quality public green areas in Dublin City.
Its probably is one of the more manicured parks too. The flower bed displays are very impressive; even now they are as I remembered, well structure and bursting with colour.
It’s also one of the quieter parks in the city. The North side of the park would have the most traffic streaming by, so if you want less noise, stick to the other sides of the park would be my suggestion.
When I first moved to Dublin I worked in a building on the South side of the park. Looking back, it was a privilege to have such a nice place to stroll through everyday. Alas not as much anymore, I must make more of an effort.
Oh and it was also the place I saw an urban fox for the first time :)

I love this place, not just because of the statue of Oscar lounging, gazing at his childhood home or some of my favorite writers probably spent time here, but because of the fact once you step through the gates you feel as if you have been transported from a bustling Dublin street to a place outside the city.
While St. Stephen’s is bigger and has a swan or two, Merrion Square calls me back time and time again with its perfect blend of wooded areas and wide open grassy spaces. Plus it is never as busy as the Green. so it is perfect for sitting on a bench, curling up with a little lunch, coffee, tea, treat or whatever and a book, especially now the weather is not quite as cold.
Oh yes, and the artist market on the weekends is delightful and a wonderful way to spend the morning.

Se encuentra situado muy cerca de St. Stephen’s Green por lo que si hace un buen día, no lo dude, visite ambos en una mañana o tarde. Merrion Square Park es uno de los parques más bonitos de Dublín, destaca por el memorial a Oscar Wilde en una de las esquinas del parque, que justamente está en frente de la antigua casa del autor.
Es muy habitual ver en un día soleado muchísima gente tirada por los jardines, lo que da un ambiente muy agradable al parque. Sus caminos son menos enrevesados que los de St. Stephen pero no quita que dando un paseo se encuentre con pequeños claros que atraen a quedarse un rato y sentirse escondido en el mundo.
Recomendable para dar una vuelta o llevar algo para comer.