Legend has it that the explorer Christopher Columbus visited Galway on one of his voyages, and it appears that he had an Irishman on board his expedition to America. Five hundred years later the city of Genoa presented this monument, with a bilingual inscription, to the city of Galway. The inscriptions read:

English:
ON THESE SHORES
AROUND 1477 THE
GENOESE SAILOR
CRISTOFORO
COLOMBO
FOUND SURE SIGNS
OF LAND BEYOND
THE ATLANTIC
LA CITTA DI GENOVA
ALLA CITTA DE GALWAY
29.VI.1992.

Irish:
AR AN GCLADACH
SEO THAR TIMPEALL
1477 TAIBHSIODH
DON MAIRNÉALACH
CRISTOFORO
COLOMBO
AS GENOBHA, TÍR A
BHEITH I GCÉIN
THAR FARRAIGE SIAR.
LA CITTA DI GENOVA
ALLA CITTA DE GALWAY
29.VI.1992.