A Walk on the Bogside with added Jazz

We have a thing with peace. Not a bell this time but a flame, bridge and sculpture. We saw all 3 today and found Derry all quiet and peaceful apart from the Jazz band which were playing while we ate our lunch. Even the policemen were enjoying the music, sandwich in hand and gun on hip.

To take a step back we travelled public transport today. Bus from the site then scenic train from Coleraine to Derry. Added benefit was not having any parking nightmares.

The over riding highlight of Derry is the city walls. They are the only remaining complete walls of of a city in Ireland and one of the finest examples in europe. The rest of Derry is very run down but so friendly. Even the ‘ Bogside’ has a tourist listing, the murals are astounding, even from a distance.

On our journey around the wall we happened upon a Gormley sculpture which was unadvertised but very much there. The peace flame was in a small garden inscribed with the hopes of young people for the future.

SCULPTURE FOR DERRY WALLS, by Antony Gormley, is a three-part sculpture in three particular locations on the Derry Walls: on the east overlooking the Foyle River, over the Bogside by the remains of the Walker Monument and on the Bastion overlooking the Fountain Estate.

Each sculpture consisted of two identical cast-iron figures joined back-to-back. They hold a cruciform pose and are placed in such a way that one faces into the walled city, and the other outside. In simple terms, it can be said that the sculptures represent Derry’s two dominant religious communities, turning away from each other, but paradoxically joined as one body. They are separated by their religious, cultural and political differences, but united in their Christianity and their shared location.