Dublin's Post Office and the 1916 Rising

The General Post Office (GPO) is Dublin's principal post office, but it has become a venerated symbol of Irish nationalism. Sited in the center of O'Connell Street, the city’s main thoroughfare north of the River Liffey, it is one of Ireland's most famous buildings, the last of the great Georgian public buildings erected in the capital. The architect was Francis Johnston (1760-1829).

During the Easter Rising of 1916, the GPO served as the headquarters of the uprising’s leaders. The assault by the British forces extensively damaged the building, and it was not repaired until the Irish Free State government took up the task some years later. The original columns outside are still pocked with bullet-marks, as is the case of the facade of the Royal College of Surgeons opposite St. Stephen's Green. An original copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic is on permanent display inside the GPO, and the building has remained a symbol of Irish nationalism.

Patrick Pearse read the Proclamation of the Republic in front of the GPO on Easter Monday, 1916. Pearse (1879-1916), an Irish teacher, barrister, poet and writer, was a leading nationalist and political activist who was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising in 1916. Shortly thereafter he and his brother were both executed by the British for their roles in the failed uprising.

Horatio Lord Nelson's Pillar, also designed by Francis Johnston, was formerly located in the center of O'Connell Street adjacent to the GPO; however the Nelson Pillar was destroyed by the IRA in an explosion in 1966. The Spire of Dublin now takes over this dominant position on the site of the former pillar.

The etching shows the Nelson Pillar and the front columns of the GPO circa 1830.

Dublin's Victorian Pubs

The Stag’s Head
Although this pub dates back to 1770, the interior you see today is authentic to an 1895 redo. It’s the real deal. No thumping music, just original stained glass windows, red leather chairs and a most liberal use of mahogany.

Great bartender and solid pub grub: bacon and cabbage, bangers and mash, Irish stew and toasts (open face sandwiches). Traditional music Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun. Clientele: James Joyce, Quentin Tarantino, Brendan Behan, and Michael Collins. In the thick of the Temple Bar area, at the corner of Dame Ct. and Dame Lane, west of Grafton and east of Dublin Castle. The stag’s head behind the bar comes from Alaska, in the year 1901 – in spite of what the bartenders will tell you. Look for the stuffed fox. Complain to the manager about the recent addition of a TV in the corner (visible in photo at top of post). Open from 10:30a daily; food served from noon to 6 pm.
www.thestagshead.ie

The Long Hall
The twin striped awnings and plain brick facade do not prepare you for the ornateness of what’s inside (photo above). Long Hall is one of Dublin’s handsomest Victorian era pubs (est. 1840), reeking of atmosphere – old lanterns, clocks, and odd prints lining the walls, chandeliers and huge wooden arches – all are a sight to behold. The whole place screams of grandeur from another time. No blaring, piped in music, and no TV! Unfortunately, no food, either. Packed to the rafters on weekend evenings, yet quiet enough to read your newspaper during the day (opens at 1 pm Thu-Fri-Sat; from 4 pm other days). Little known fact: the River Poddle runs underneath. Unlike many pubs, the Long Hall does accept credit cards. A bit south of the tourist-clogged Temple Bar area at 51 S. Great Georges Street, Dublin.

Dublin – City with 3 Cathedrals

Christchurch Cathedral (above)

Cathedral count: 2 protestant, 1 catholic

Dublin has three Cathedrals: St. Patrick's and Christchurch, both Church of Ireland (Protestant), and St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral (Catholic). St. Patrick's is the national cathedral of Ireland, and Christchurch is the cathedral of the city of Dublin. Both were originally Catholic, as they pre-date the reformation by hundreds of years, but became Protestant under Henry VIII in the 1530s and have remained so ever since. As Christchurch retains the status of the city Cathedral, the Catholic St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral cannot be a full cathedral, hence the name (pro-cathedral means “acting cathedral”).


St. Mary's (photo above) was built between 1815 and 1825 on the site of a 12th-century Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary. The church is noted for its Palestrina Choir of men and boys (established 1903). The cathedral is built in the Neo-Classic Doric style, which provides a distinct contrast to the Gothic Revival look of most other churches of the period. St. Mary’s is located north of the Liffey River on Marlborough Street, one block east of O’Connell.


Pew carving detail at St. Mary's Pro-Cathedral.

St. Mary's is not an official cathedral, even though it functions as one. Back when Christchurch Cathedral was built, the pope consecrated it as the Catholic cathedral of Dublin. Although Christchurch has been Protestant since the 16th century, no pope has ever revoked its original designation. Since a city can have only one Catholic cathedral, St. Mary's cannot enjoy that status until Christchurch's cathedral designation is revoked.

Both St. Patrick's (c. 1191) and Christchurch (c. 1030) Cathedrals are located south of the Liffey near Dublin Castle. St. Patrick’s is headed not by a bishop, but by a dean, the most noted of whom was Jonathan Swift, who served from 1713-1735 (when he wasn’t writing Gulliver’s Travels); Swift is buried inside. St. Patrick’s draws chapter members from each of the twelve dioceses of the Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland Archbishop has his seat at Christchurch Cathedral. There was rivalry and animosity between the two religious institutions until 1300, when Archbishop Ferings of Dublin arranged an agreement between the two cathedrals, the Pacis Compostio, which acknowledged both as cathedrals and made provisions to accommodate their shared status.


From 1688-90, King James II of England and his fellow Roman Catholics briefly repossessed St. Patrick’s Cathedral (photo above). James, who was the last Catholic to rule over England, Ireland and Scotland, attended Mass services there with his Jacobite supporters during this time. However, the victory of the Protestants during the Williamite war meant that the cathedral was restored to Anglican ownership in 1690; James II abandoned Dublin after his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, living out his days as a pretender in France.

There is no precedent for a three- cathedral city. In this regard Dublin is unique.

St. Stephen's Green - Dublin

St. Stephen's Green (Irish: Faiche Stiabhna) is a 27-acre public park in central Dublin. The rectangular green space adjoins Grafton Street and a large enclosed shopping mall at its northwest corner, opposite Fusiliers arch (photo below), a stone entry gate erected in 1907 to commemorate the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who died in the Second Boer War.


Within the park are a large lake, footbridge, fountains, benches, bandstand, gazebo, an artificial waterfall and various statues and memorials. An unusual feature is a garden for the blind that features scented plants. The park, which dates back to 1664, is open only during daylight hours.


Prior to 1877 St. Stephen's Green was a private square for the use of the residents who lived along its perimeter, much as Fitzwilliam Square is to this day. In that year, through the generosity of Arthur Edward Guinness (of brewing family fame), negotiations were concluded for converting it into a public park. He paid off the park's debts and invested a further £20,000 in laying out the grounds as a park and garden.

Bloomsday in Dublin - June 16

The fact that we will arrive in Dublin on the 16th of June has special significance. Every year Dublin observes June 16 as Bloomsday, celebrating the life of Irish writer James Joyce (1882-1941). The purpose is to revisit the specific locales in Joyce’s novel Ulysses, in which all events took place on the same day (June 16, 1904) in Dublin. The name Bloomsday derives from Leopold Bloom, the novel’s protagonist. Specifically, Thursday, June 16, 1904, was the date of Joyce's first outing with his wife-to-be, Nora Barnacle, when they walked to the Dublin urban village of Ringsend. Accordingly, many modern day revelers dress in clothing appropriate to 1904.

The novel, considered by many literary critics to be one of the greatest books ever written, describes in florid detail a single day in the life Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly and Stephen Dedalus, a young would-be-writer – a character based on Joyce himself. Bloom, a Jewish advertising salesman, spends the day wandering through the streets and offices, pubs and brothels of 1904 Dublin. Joyce himself said of Ulysses: “I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth, it could be reconstructed from my book.”

On the first Bloomsday observance in 1954, John Ryan (artist, critic, publican and magazine founder) and novelist Flann O'Brien organized what was to be a daylong pilgrimage along the Ulysses route. They were joined by Patrick Kavanagh, Anthony Cronin, Tom Joyce (a dentist who, as Joyce's cousin, represented the family interest) and A.J. Leventhal (Registrar of Trinity College). The pilgrimage was abandoned halfway through, however, when the weary party succumbed to inebriation and rancor at the Bailey Pub in the city center. At the time Ryan owned the pub. In 1967, he replaced a door of the Bailey Pub with the original door to No. 7 Eccles Street (Leopold Bloom’s front door), having rescued it from demolition. John Ryan made an informal film of the attempted 1954 pilgrimage; the footage exists to this day.

Today’s Bloomsday celebrations include Ulysses readings and dramatizations, pub crawls and general merriment, much of it hosted by the James Joyce Centre on North Great George’s Street. Enthusiasts often dress in Edwardian costume to celebrate Bloomsday and retrace Bloom's route around Dublin with stops at locales such as Davy Byrne’s pub (still going strong). Davy Byrne’s was where Leo Bloom had a gorgonzola cheese sandwich and a glass of burgundy for lunch. Can you guess what most folk eat and drink at Davy Byrne’s every June 16?

Hard-core devotees have even been known to hold marathon readings of the entire novel (more than 1,000 pages), some lasting up to 36 hours. The first celebration took place in 1954 (fiftieth anniversary), and a major five-month-long festival (ReJoyce Dublin 2004) took place in Dublin during the centennial summer of 2004. On the Sunday before the 100th anniversary of the fictional events described in the book, 10,000 people in Dublin were treated to a free, open-air, full Irish breakfast on O'Connell Street. As well, there have been many Bloomsday events in Trieste, Italy, where Joyce was living when he wrote the first part of Ulysses; a Joyce Museum was opened there on June 16, 2004.

The Brazen Head Pub, one of the sites visited in Ulysses, does landmark business on Bloomsday. It is reputed to be the oldest drinking establishment in the city; there has been a bar on this site since the 12th century when it was located in the medieval city, with the original tavern replaced by a coaching inn in the late 17th century.

As you enter (photo below) the first thing you encounter after passing stacks of kegs is the old courtyard, which turns into a beer garden in the summer. The Brazen Head has two bars that are strewn with old memorabilia reflecting the bar's long history in the city. It has played a central role in Dublin's history with famous patrons such as Irish nationalists Wolfe Tone, Robert Emmet and Daniel O'Connell. Many Irish writers, not just James Joyce, frequented this place; Patrick Kavanagh and Brendan Behan were regulars.

It has plenty of character and old world charm. Tourists love it (watch your head on the low threshold!), and they serve a decent dinner. You'll find plenty of lawyers here, considering its proximity to The Four Courts. On Bridge Street by the River Liffey, Southside Dublin.

Spire of Dublin

The Spire of Dublin, officially titled the Monument of Light, is a stainless steel, pin-like monument 390 ft. tall, located on the site of the former Nelson’s Pillar on O'Connell Street in Dublin. The spire is an elongated cone 9.8 ft. in diameter at the base, narrowing to 6 inches at the top. It is constructed from eight hollow tubes of stainless steel and features a tuned mass damper to counteract sway.

In 1966 Nelson's Pillar, which had stood prominently on O’Connell Street, was destroyed in a bombing by former IRA members. In the 1990s, plans were launched to improve the street scape, and the centerpiece of this regeneration was to be a replacement monument for Nelson's Pillar, a 134-ft tall monument installed in 1808. The Spire of Dublin design was chosen through an international competition.

Book of Kells at Trinity College Library

The Book of Kells is a beautiful manuscript containing the Four Gospels in Latin. It is Ireland's most precious medieval artifact, and is generally considered the finest surviving illuminated manuscript to have been produced in medieval Europe.

The Book of Kells was likely produced in a monastery on the Isle of Iona, Scotland, to honor Saint Columba in the early 8th century. After a Viking raid the book was moved to the Abbey of Kells, Ireland, sometime in the 9th century. It was stolen in the 11th century, at which time its cover was torn off and it was thrown into a ditch. The cover, which most likely included gold and gems, has never been found, and the book suffered some water damage; but otherwise it is extraordinarily well-preserved.

In 1541, at the height of the English Reformation, the book was taken by the Roman Catholic Church for safekeeping. It was returned to Ireland in the 17th century, and Archbishop James Ussher gave it to Trinity College, Dublin, where it is on permanent display today in the Long Room of the college library.

Visitors to Dublin’s historic Trinity College marvel at the vaulted ceilings of the Old Library Building’s Long Room, under which is housed the Book of Kells and a rare first edition of Dante's Divine Comedy. The library serves as the primary place of study and research for the more than 15,000 students who attend Ireland’s oldest university.

The Book of Kells is usually displayed two volumes at a time, one showing a major illustration and the other showing typical text pages. The folios are bound in four separate volumes. As many as ten different colors were used in the artistic embellishments to the texts (illuminations), some of them rare and expensive dyes that had to be imported from the continent. The workmanship is so fine that some of the details can only be seen clearly with a magnifying glass.

Above is the famous Chi-Rho page (folio 34r) which introduces St. Matthew's account of the nativity.

Gresham Hotel Dublin

The Gresham Dublin, the flagship of The Gresham Hotel Group, opened in 1817, making it Ireland's oldest hotel. It is a Dublin institution that operates today as a four star deluxe property offering 288 rooms and suites distributed over six floors. The Gresham is located on fashionable O’Connell Street Upper, near the Millennium Spire. Following a major refurbishment in 2006, The Gresham Hotel Dublin now offers all updated services demanding travelers expect, while building on its long established reputation for superior service and excellent facilities. The Gresham will be our home while in Dublin.

The Chieftains, the most famous exponents of traditional Irish music in the world, first performed in public together in the Gresham Hotel in 1964 as dinner entertainment for an Irish Harp convention, and they've become renowned across the face of the globe for their sparkling virtuosity and musicianship.

Thomas Gresham was a foundling child, abandoned on the steps of London’s Royal Exchange. He was named after the founder of that institution, Sir Thomas Gresham, a famous merchant-politician in the Elizabethan era. Upon coming to Ireland young Thomas worked as a butler before opening a hotel on the spot where it still stands.

Dublin Castle Complex

For seven and a half centuries Dublin Castle was the fortified seat of British rule in Ireland, until a handover to Michael Collins in the Upper Yard of the castle in 1922, the culmination of the bloody Irish Uprising that began in 1916 (Easter Rebellion). The handover marked the formation of the Irish Free State, when twenty-six of the thirty-two counties of Ireland left the dominion of Britain. The Irish Free State has now become a Republic, and the remaining six counties form Northern Ireland, still part of Great Britain.

The round medieval tower shown in the above photo dates back to the thirteenth century, but the Chapel Royal to the right of it was not constructed until the nineteenth century. The River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey, now flows under the castle in a channel designed to divert it, but the confluence of the Poddle and Liffey rivers was a naturally defensible site when construction of the castle began in 1204 upon the order of King John of England. This castle, completed in 1230, replaced a Danish Viking castle which had stood on the same site.

The castle stands on the highest point of ground in Dublin, which gets it name from Dubh Linn (Black Pool; dubh = black), which was on the site of the present castle gardens and coach house. The castle contains splendid State Apartments and the renowned Chester Beatty Library. Additions and remodelings continued through the twentieth century.

The octagonal clock tower shown in the above photo is known as the Bedford Tower, which occupies the site of the original Norman gate. The regalia of the Order of St Patrick, the “Crown Jewels” of Ireland, were kept in the Office of Arms in this tower facing Dublin Castle’s Upper Yard. The jewels were discovered missing on July 6, 1907, four days before the state visit of England’s King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. To this day they have never been found.

The Chapel Royal shown below is a Victorian era nineteenth century replacement of an earlier chapel. The organ was a gift of Prince Albert, escort of Queen Victoria.




In the adjacent Dublin Castle gardens the circular grassy middle lawn is embellished by a large-scale ancient Celtic emblem (photo below) formed by brick pavers. The design is best seen from the terrace of the Chester Beatty Library. This lawn is actually used as a helicopter landing pad on occasion. Ogham designs (Irish writing symbols) decorate the benches facing the circular lawn. Strangely, most tourists overlook this welcoming spot.