Holyhead: Stories of a Port

This post is one of a continuing series to showcase some of the special objects we have in the Holyhead Maritime Museum’s collection.

One of the most fascinating and certainly the largest object on display at the Museum is the Franta Belsky mural that once graced the Forward Lounge on the Holyhead ship MV St. Columba.

The vessel was named after the 6th Century Irish monk who founded the monastery on the Scottish island of Iona, then part of the Irish kingdom of Ulster. It is believed that work to produce the treasured ‘Book of Kells’ may have commenced by monks at Iona.

The mural portrays episodes in the life of St. Columba. It depicts his journey to Iona and the monastery he founded on a base of stones. St. Columba did much to spread Christianity to this area of Scotland. It also shows the coronation of the Scottish King Aiden, which helped bring peace to the feuding clans. Praying figures, a Viking ship and white doves of peace are also depicted.

The Car Ferry MV St. Columba was built in Denmark and commenced operations on the Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire route in May 1977. At 7,836 tons she was then the largest Sealink ship on the Irish Sea. She could carry up to 2,400 passengers and 335 cars or 36 HGV’s, or a mixture of both. A popular ship, she was well liked by both passengers and crew alike.

In 1997 she left the Irish Sea for the warmer climes of the Mediterranean as the Greek ferry Express Aphrodite. It is not known when the mural was removed from the vessel but rescued by members of the Museum, it now hangs in pride of place at the Museum to remind us of the strong Celtic links between Ireland and Wales.

Franta Belsky was a Czech sculptor known for large-scale abstract works of public art as well as more iconographic statues and busts of noted 20th-century figures such as Winston Churchill and members of the British Royal Family.

The photo of the mural on board ship is from http://www.doverferryphotosforums.co.uk/mv-st-columba-past-and-present/

Contributed by the Editor.

© Holyhead Maritime Museum.

This series of posts is to showcase items from the museum’s collection and to support the ‘Ports, Past and Present’ project that features and promotes five ports of the Irish Sea connecting Wales with Ireland – Rosslare, Dublin Port, Holyhead, Fishguard and Pembroke. More information here – https://portspastpresent.eu/