World City Icons.
- This topic has 89 replies, 29 voices, and was last updated 18 years, 7 months ago by
.
- Posts
Sorry, another amazing view, and one I got frequently during my time as a tour guide on the open toppers, i in eventing time coming down Chesterfield Ave in the Phoeniz Park. When you see that White Guinness Building in the fading sun, when all the city lights are coming on and the traffic flow is heating up again but you’re not quite part of it due to your location in the veldt of the park..that’s a real Dublin view for me.
fergalr – you have a touch of the Joyce about you. One of the greatest pities I can imagine is that Ireland doesn’t benefit from more sunny summer evenings when such urban vistas take on a life of their own. For my own part, I still dream of the late evening sun over Salthill in June and July. Beautiful. Ireland has one of the greatest gifts any country can have – long summer evenings. Its a crying shame that the weather doesn’t go with them. I am getting homesick so I will stop.
Aha! I was saying the exact same to a friend of mine yesterday. We were discussing the merits of certain cities (Sydney) over certain others (Dublin).
There is nowhere in the world I would rather be than in Dublin on a summer’s evening. They are the best thing this country has going for it weather-wise.
In “How Many Miles to Babylon”, the main character’s mother says that she think s Ireland should be renamed “Isle of the Evenings”. Em..a little naff, but I agree with the sentiment behind it!
For example..and although taken in December…
@PDLL wrote:
Egypt isn’t a city – it is a country (topic is world city icons). Most, but sadly not all, schoolkids would have gotten that right.
Obviously egypt isn’t a country, but thats why I said Giza also. The pyramids are a national symbol as well as a city symbol. If you were to include a great temple from every anient city in egypt or greece it wouldn’t be as well known to joe soap on the streets. Exactly like the Taj Mahal comment from jungle.
I agree. Certain icons are icons more of a national nature rather than being asociated with any one city although I would imagine that many people would associate the Taj Mahal with Deihi or the Pyramids with Cairo.
The light in Ireland is what makes the scenery fantastic. How many times has one photographed the same view under different conditions? When living in Paris the flat grey light of winter nearly killed me!
Some more for the list:
Victoria,BC ….Empress Hotel
Boston MA……Town Hall dome
Long Beach CA geodesic dome
Madrid …………Cibeles fountain (or Puerto del Sol sculpture?)
Dubrovnik……..Citadel
Milan and Florence….Duomo
Bern……………bearpit
Warsaw………wedding cake building (Stalin’s present)
Vienna………shoenbrun (sp?)KB2
disgusting chimney stacks as an icon of a city???
come on people get a grip!!
serious lack of landmarks in dublin if this is all we gotWell what would you suggest as a decent landmark paul h?
Looking back at my list at the top of the page it struck me that the Statue of Liberty would be a more universally recognised landmark for New York than the Empire State Building.
New York is jampacked with icons: Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Station, Times Square, Rockefeller Plaza, UN headquarters, the Trade Centre was another.
Others: City Hall in Philadelphia. St Mark’s Square in Venice. Ponte Vecchio or the Duomo in Florence. Pulteney Bridge in Bath, Clyde Bridge in Glasgow. The Guggenheim in Bilbao might be the most modern world city icon of all. Or alternatively that winking bridge in Newcastle.
I think it’s impossible to look past the Ha’penny Bridge as Dublin’s icon. And it’s nothing to be ashamed of.Still though, it didn’t come to mind straight away when I first started looking at this thread. And how many people living abroad would instantly recognise it as as a Dublin landmark? I think that the Spire/Spike will eventually become the landmark associated with Dublin from an international perspective. I believe that the thing was constructed, in part, to create a instantly recognisable landmark for the city. It may not be easy to photograph in a single frame but it may well be the city landmark in twenty years time
Exactly PTB, in many people eyes it isn’t anytyhing special. But that was said about alot of structures. It has the best potential to become an international landmark
The Spire on O’ Connell Street is the the new icon for Dublin City. It will be fully marketed as such when the repaving works are finished I’m sure. Regarding buildings , Liberty Hall would have to be viewed as an icon too; that photo by Fergair on the previous page is the archetypal photo shot of Dublin, with the Liffey in the forground.. Liberty Hall should be given a makeover and restored to it’s original quirky glory. It’s just as good as the stuff they are building further on down the Liffey. It would somewhat of a loss if it were demolished.
(However it’s probably a pity that we did’nt get a miniature Chrysler type building here from an earlier date, as well as the loopline taking a much more distinctive form/shape. )
Liberty Hall is a well known to most because of it’s height, but I can’t ever imagine anybody from outside the country being able to recognaise it from a photo.
The Spire would have to be one. I like it but it could do with a good clean. I guess all the dirt from construction work going on in the area doesn’t help. It looks good with daylight bouncing off it.
Well it can’t be an easy thing to flood light. It’s only how many feet high and only two or so meters wide at the base – sorry about the vaugeness of the stats. I’ve never seen it at night but what does the top part with the holes look like when it is lit? And wasn’t the Spire suppoosed to be self cleaning or something like that? Why does it get dirty?
@Morlan wrote:
I’d agree with most of that PTB. I’d still stick with the Ha’penny Bridge as the main icon of Dublin.
😎 The Ha’penny bridge rocks my boat as well, i love walking up the quays past the bridge and looking at the historic skyline of the city.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
