The Irish Times reports on today's opening of the Samuel Beckett bridge in Dublin:
The opening ceremony of Dublin's newest bridge, named after Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett, took place today.Stephen Bayley of The Observer reflects on the design and significance of the new bridge:
The iconic structure stretches 120 metres across the capital’s River Liffey from Guild Street on the northside to Sir John Rogerson’s Quay on the southside.
Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the bridge takes the shape of the Irish harp with cable-stay ‘strings’.
Actor Barry McGovern performed Beckett excerpts at the ribbon-cutting ceremony as the Waiting for Godot author’s niece Caroline Murphy, nephew Edward Beckett and hundreds of Dubliners looked on.
Ms Murphy said her uncle would have been amazed by the 40 million euro creation.
“He was a very, very unassuming man and I think he would have been quite overcome.
“I can see the tears in his eyes now — he probably wouldn’t have turned up to the opening but I think he would be very, very overcome by emotion,” she said.
“It’s wonderful that Seamus Heaney came and I’m quite amazed that there are so many people here.
“I thought there would have been only a sprinkling of people in the know but I think Dublin has taken this bridge to its heart.” [Read More]
Can there ever have been a more appropriate memorial to a writer than the new Samuel Beckett bridge that opened in Dublin on 10 December? The several thousand tons of steel deck and pylon were fabricated in a factory in Rotterdam, then carried across the sea by a barge labouring in the churning swell. A stately bridge carried over the turbulent water by a boat? Here's a conceit so surreal it makes Waiting for Godot read like a cereal packet. [Read More]More on A Piece of Monologue:
