The Luas Cross City heritage works began in June 2014 with the removal and safe storage of the Lady Grattan Fountain in St. Stephen’s Green. Since then a range of items including statues, street furniture, paving items, bollards and railings have been removed to protect them during the construction project. Whilst they are in storage they are being cleaned and repaired if necessary to the best possible conservation standards.
As part of the works one of the most famous statues in the capital, Molly Malone and her wheelbarrow, was removed from the bottom of Grafton Street in May 2014, the statue got ‘a makeover’ during which a team of specialists in conservation, historic stonework and bronze carried out inspections and repairs on her. Molly has been re-welded in spots, steam cleaned and a new coating of micro-crystalline wax applied to protect her from the elements. The statue now resides in her temporary home outside St. Andrews Church on Suffolk Street for the duration of the remaining Luas Cross City works, where she continues to be one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.
The reinstatement of the heritage items will begin next year, all the work and imagery are detailed in the Heritage Information booklet available to download below.