James Joyce Bridge
A Calatrava arch bridge opened on Bloomsday, its steel silhouette shaped like an open book above the Liffey.
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Santiago Calatrava designed this 40-metre single-span crossing, and the city opened it on 16 June 2003 — Bloomsday — anchoring it firmly in Dublin's literary calendar. The south quay directly facing the bridge is where Number 15 Usher's Island stands, the house Joyce used as the setting for "The Dead." The steel itself came from Harland and Wolff in Belfast, pre-fabricated and assembled on site.
What to look for
- Two outward-angled arches whose combined outline draws comparison to an open book
- Number 15 Usher's Island on the south bank — the exact house setting of Joyce's story 'The Dead'
- The structural steel deck, assembled from pre-fabricated sections shipped from Harland and Wolff, Belfast
Walk the Liffey quays in either direction — the bridge links the south quays to Blackhall Place on the north side and is accessible on foot.
James Joyce Bridge is one of 35 sights worth the detour in Dublin, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Dublin pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Dublin
- Aviva StadiumOne 51,711-seat bowl jointly owned by rugby and football — two governing bodies, one ground, no separate home for either.
- Dublin CastleThe river that gave Dublin its name still flows beneath your feet — and the building above it ran Ireland for 750 years.
- Croke ParkThe fourth-largest stadium in Europe holds 82,300 people — almost entirely for sports most of the world has never watched.
- National Library of IrelandIreland's paper memory — manuscripts, photographs, and newspapers free to open on the spot.
- St Patrick's CathedralIreland's national cathedral has never had a bishop — that role belongs to the rival church 400 metres up the road.
- Spire of DublinA 120-metre stainless-steel pin planted on the exact spot where an IRA bomb in 1966 — and a controlled demolition six days later — erased Nelson's Pillar.