Boston Irish Famine Memorial

Two bronze figures stand near the corner of Washington and School Streets, representing the Irish Famine Memorial. One woman gazes upward with an empty bowl, while the other holds a small child, their tattered clothing sculpted to look thin and worn against the city stone. These statues mark the arrival of thousands of refugees who fled the Great Hunger in the eighteen forties. They carry nothing but the exhaustion of their journey, stepping directly into the crowded path of modern downtown commuters.