Arbour Hill is one of the nicest places in the city for a walk on a bright day this time of year. There’s a smell of smoke in the air from the houses, and there’s a good view over to Guinness from near the military church, looking past Collins’ Barracks below and over the river. At the road’s quieter end, you’ll come across this small church, consecrated as the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in 1992, and originally designed as the Victoria Kindergarten School in 1890 by George Smith. It’s beautifully kept and was being washed and swept very thoroughly as I first passed by.
The building is full of interesting details, though the first thing to get my attention was the number of crosses within its roofscape. On the cupola at the centre of the ridge, there’s this small three-dimensional cross:
At each end of the roof, there’s a larger perforated cross, again with the trefoils at the tips like the one above. There are gaps in my knowledge of religion big enough to fit a megacity, so: the trefoil (“three-leaved”) in general is used as a symbol of the Holy Trinity, and I’m assuming that’s true in the Greek Orthodox tradition but will gladly accept corrections.
To the right of the entrance, there’s a cluster that must offer Dublin’s most dense view of individual crosses. I’m a fan of rooftop silhouettes in signage – it can be very subtle and unobtrusive, not overwhelming the building, as well as highly visible, somehow. (I’ve a few stored up to post, but here’s a reminder of the one on the Samuel Beckett Theatre.) On a sunny day, these crosses stood out like very delicate beacons.
