The Famine Memorial was unveiled in 1997. It was created by the Irish sculptor Rowan Gillespie to commemorate a defining moment in Irish history: the Great Famine (1845 to 1852), a major period of starvation and social crisis caused by the loss of potato crops due to infestation. Since most Irish farmers depended entirely on potatoes for their survival, more than a million souls died of hunger and disease, while another two million emigrated and never returned.