IRELAND, September 30, 2015 (India Travelogue by Manohar Rakhe): Manohar V. Rakhe, an NRI from London, visits Victoria’s Way, in a small village called Roundwood in county Wicklow, southeast of Dublin, Ireland. A Maharashtrian by birth who has always worshipped Lord Ganesh, he calls this a pilgrim journey in Ireland. Late last year I had read in one of the Marathi newspapers from India that just south of Dublin, there is a park that houses some huge statues of Lord Ganesh. No further information could be gleaned from the newspaper itself. So with the help of the internet and through telephone conversations with the proprietor of the park and the local bus company in Dublin, I gathered as much information as I could.
There are 9 Ganesh statues in the Park. Apart from one sitting statue of Sri Ganesh, reading a tome, all the others are either dancing or playing a musical instrument. The Victoria’s Way collection of black granite Ganesh (Vinayaka) took about 9 years to design, model and carve. The sculptures range in size from 5ft 6ins to 9ft and weigh between 2 and 5 tonnes. The sculptures were envisioned and sketched in Roundwood in Ireland by Victor Langheld, then modelled by the artist D.V. Murugan in Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), Tamil Nadu, India. They were carved in Mahabalipuram by an outstanding sculptor, the stapathi master T. Baskaran.
For more of this interesting travelogue and the story of Victoria’s Way park founder, Victor Langheld, see source above.