Merrion Square

Merrion Square was laid out from 1762 and is the most intact of Dublin's Georgian squares - three sides of brick terraces with fanlights and the painted panelled doors that became a tourist image in the 1970s, when a poster of them was produced partly in response to demolitions elsewhere in the city. Plaques record who lived where: Oscar Wilde at number 1, Daniel O'Connell at 58, W B Yeats at 82, Sheridan Le Fanu at 70. The central garden was private to residents until the 1970s and is now a public park, with a reclining statue of Wilde on a boulder at the north-western corner, a set of Georgian lamp standards, and the National Gallery, Natural History Museum and Leinster House along the western side. On Sundays artists hang paintings on the railings, a practice going back decades. The houses are almost all offices and embassies now.

What you actually see

• The doorways - the painted Georgian doors and fanlights on three sides.
• The plaques - Wilde, O'Connell, Yeats and Le Fanu among the residents.
• The Wilde statue - reclining on a boulder at the north-west corner.
• The Sunday artists - paintings hung on the park railings.

When to go

April to October for the park. Sundays bring the art on the railings. The park closes at dusk and earlier in winter.

Honest expectations

The houses are offices and embassies - none of the interiors are open except by occasional event. The park is pleasant but small. Photographing doorways means standing on a live footpath.

Nearby

The National Gallery and Natural History Museum are on the square; Trinity College is a short walk.