In front of you is the most symbolic building in modern Ireland. The General Post Office, designed by Francis Johnston, opened on 6 January 1818 and was the last great Georgian public building in Dublin. But it isn't remembered for the post.
1Easter Monday 1916
On 24 April 1916, a force of Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army seized the building and made it their headquarters. Outside this façade, Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. For almost a week the GPO held out under British fire, until the building went up in flames and the rebels surrendered on 29 April.
The Rising failed, but the executions of its leaders in the following weeks turned public opinion. Less than six years later the Irish Free State was born, and it rebuilt the GPO and reopened it in 1929.
Of the 1818 building, only the granite façade in front of you survived the fire.
2The Spire and the missing pillar
Where the Spire now stands, unveiled in 2003, there used to be Nelson's Pillar. In 1966 a bomb destroyed it in the middle of the night, fifty years after the Rising.
3What to look for
- The bullet marks on the columns and portico walls.
- The three statues on the pediment: Mercury, Hibernia and Fidelity.
- The statue of Cúchulainn, in the main hall, the official memorial to those who died in 1916.
Documented
The GPO opened in 1818, was the headquarters of the Easter Rising from 24 April 1916 and reopened, rebuilt, in 1929.
Sources and credits
An Post, GPO Witness History (1916 visitor centre); Charles Townshend, Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion (Penguin, 2005); Dictionary of Irish Architects, entry for Francis Johnston.
Photos:
- The front of the General Post Office on O'Connell Street, beside the Spire: JoachimKohler-HB, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Ruins around the General Post Office after the 1916 Rising: Thomas Johnson Westropp, CC0.
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