Victor’s Way: An Eccentric Sculpture Park in Ireland

Victor’s Way is an Indian Sculpture Park in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is a privately owned meditation garden famous for its granite sculptures. The stone sculptures in the park were created by the craftsmen in India and shipped to Ireland. There are more than 30 sculptures that represent unique transitional phases like the progression to enlightenment. The creation process of the sculptures and the park, which started in the late 1980s, took more than 15 years. According to a plaque at the entrance, the park is dedicated to Alan Turing, a brilliant mathematician and cryptographer who served in WWII.

The park is owned by Victor Langheld, a Berlin-born Irish philosopher. He has lived with different religious orders in India, Japan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Langheld traveled to many spiritual and religious sites in Asia. After his travels, he went to Ireland to construct a spiritual sculpture park. He designed most of the sculptures and continues to maintain the park.

Most statues are made of black granite and range in height from 1.5 meters to 5 meters. Eight statues are dedicated to Ganesha doing various activities. Each of them took five craftsmen a year to complete. There are interpretations of Buddha, Eve, and Shiva as well. Many of the sculptures include an ironic touch of modernity like a starving Buddha carrying a Nokia phone.

The sculptures inside the 9-hectare park are unusual and consist of dancing figures of Ganesha, Shiva, and other Hindu deities. There are also more bizarre sculptures like a starving Buddha-like figure, a disembodied finger, and a sculpture called ”The Split Man”, which shows a figure ripping itself apart and representing dysfunctional humans’ mental state.

The park was originally known as Victoria’s Way until 2015, but it was closed by the owner because of the audience profile. It was reopened in 2016 with the name Victor’s Way with new age restrictions since Langheld did not want families to bring their kids to a meditation space.