Merrion Square/Archbishop Ryan Park

TK

Dublin's great squares remain lined with Georgian town houses, including lovely, quiet little Merrion Square, just southeast of Trinity Collge and just northeast of St. Stephen's Green.

Archbishop Ryan Park in the center of the square is a quiet, lovely place for a stroll, with a children's playground on the western edge and a "Coffee in the Park" snack stand near the east entrance.

In the northwest corner a polychrome marble statue of Oscar Wilde lounging on a boulder across from his childhood home at No. 1 Merrion Square.

(Other notable addresses around Merrion Square include No. 82, once home to poet W. B. Yeats, and No. 58, once home to political firebrand Daniel O’Connell.)

Juts off the square’s southeast corner, opposite the old Wilde House, the home at No. 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street has been restored as the interesting Museum of Georgian Life.

Flanking the square's western edge is the first fashionable home built in the area, Leinster House, now seat of the Irish Parliament and the center of a complex flanked by numerous major museums, including the National Gallery, the National Museum of Natural History and (entered from the next street to the west, Kildare Street) the National Musuem of Archaelogy and the National Library.

Tips

• Planning your time: The park is a nice place to spend 20–30 minutes. The sights around will take up varying amounts of your time.
• Tours: Take a tour that includes a stop at Merrion Square with our partners at Viator.com:
  • Dublin City Hop-on Hop-off Tour (no site entry)
• Dublin Pass: TK
• Joint ticket: TK