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Ireland

Munster

Kerry

Árthach Dána

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Places to see

Ireland

Munster

Kerry

Árthach Dána

Recommended by 24 hikers out of 26

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Location: Kerry, Munster, Ireland

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Best Hikes to Árthach Dána

4.8

(29)

129

hikers

1. View over Skellig Islands – Mossy Forest and Stone Bridge loop from Waterville

27.8km

07:58

630m

Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Expert

5.0

(4)

hikers

2. Lough Currane – Árthach Dána loop from Waterville

21.3km

05:50

240m

Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

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Expert

5.0

(4)

hikers

3. View of the Atlantic Coast – View of the Atlantic Ocean loop from Waterville

13.1km

03:31

150m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

Tips

A🚶🏽‍♂️L🚴🏼‍♂️E🏃🏽‍♂️X

July 12, 2023

The sculpture Árthach Dána (Irish for daring or artful vessel) celebrates the cultural and maritime heritage of Kerry’s Iveragh Peninsula and marks Waterville’s central place in Irish mythology. Like the 11th century poem The Song of Amergin in the Leabhar Gabhála Éireann (Book of Invasions) that inspired it, the sculpture is bold, yet artfully embodies the coastal environment of Ireland’s Celtic seaboard. Its complex form responds to the ancient text (interpretation by Paddy Bushe below), the myth of the Milesian invasion and sun-barge symbolism in European prehistory. Yet, the semi-abstract sundial sculpture is also a monument to all prehistoric seafarers and traders that explored Ireland’s Atlantic seaboard long before the advent of nautical instruments and charting. Wave patterns, the passage of the sun, sea birds and the star constellation of Pleiades or Seven Sisters are all remnants of these age-old skills of seamanship, pilotage and celestial navigation.

As the prow of a ship emerges from the ground like a beached vessel from the depth of history, its planking transforms into the breaking waves of the Atlantic Ocean, the legendary Great Waves of Erin. Its elongated stem resembles the skull and beak of a Northern Gannet that becomes the gnomon of a large sundial - a reference to Little Skellig which is one of the largest gannet colonies in the world! Foremost, however, it is an allegory for the arrival of the Gaelic language on our coast: whether being driven to Europe’s western fringes from an elusive ‘Celtic heartland’ - as it was understood in the 19th/20th centuries - or, more likely, emerging from a pan-European lingua franca. Its stark, aggressive presence is also a metaphor for climate change and the relentless cycles in nature.

arthachdana.eu

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Elevation 60 m

Weather

Today

Thursday 18 September

17°C

14°C

10 %

If you start your activity now...

Max wind speed: 12.0 km/h

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Take Me There

Location: Kerry, Munster, Ireland

Árthach Dána

1. View over Skellig Islands – Mossy Forest and Stone Bridge loop from Waterville

2. Lough Currane – Árthach Dána loop from Waterville

3. View of the Atlantic Coast – View of the Atlantic Ocean loop from Waterville

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