The National Famine Monument is located on the right hand side of the road opposite the ascent road to Croagh Patrick, unveiled by President Mary Robinson in 1997, which commemorates all those who died in the Great Famine of 1845-49. Created by renowned sculptor, John Behan, the monument is cast in bronze and depicts a coffin ship (*ships unfit as passenger craft that filled Irish emigrants as cargo many of whom met a watery grave). The sails on this famine ship are fashioned like skeletons, representing the misery of the trip to the New World for millions. In 2001, a sister monument was unveiled outside the United Nations building in New York. For those not up for the climb up Croagh Patrick, the road to the right leads to the ruins of the 15th century Augustinian Murrisk Friary, on the shore of Clew Bay.