Cork In 50 Artworks, No 30: Statue of Queen Victoria at UCC, by Patrick Scannell

Created to welcome 'the Famine queen' on a visit to the college, the statue was later buried, with an exhumation in the 1990s causing further controversy 

Prince Charles passes by the statue of Queen Victoria at UCC during his visit to the college in 2018, with Prof John A Murphy in the background. Picture: Julien Behal Photography 

It is no exaggeration to claim that Queen Victoria took Cork by surprise when she first visited the city, on Friday, August 3, 1849. Her arrival marked the start of her first state visit to Ireland, and coincided with the opening that same year of University College Cork - or Queen’s College, Cork, as it was then known – where she was to view a statue erected in her honour.

Victoria had sailed into Cobh the evening before, and was expected to spend a second night on the Royal Yacht in Cork harbour before venturing into the city. Instead, the royal party – including Prince Albert and the couple’s four eldest children – sailed up the Lee estuary on the Friday afternoon.