GPO Dublin, conflict in Ireland, birthplace of the Irish Republic and a beautiful Georgian Building.

We visit O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare and look at one of the most iconic buildings in Ireland, The General Post office.

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We also pass the base of the 120m high stainless steel Dublin spire. It was located in O'Connell Street in 2002 on a site where Nelsons Pillar previously stood. This earlier monument, having connections to British Empire, was destroyed in a bomb in 1966.

Aside from being a remarkable piece of late Georgian architecture with its full height portico in Portland stone and with six fluted ionic columns, this building is associate with the birth of the Irish Republic itself.

On 24th April 1916 the poet, teacher, barrister and republican activist Padrick Pearse read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic outside this building. Pearse was the person most responsible for drafting the Proclamation and he was also instrumental in organising the uprising which immediately followed.

This GPO building became the Headquarters of the uprising leaders during the conflict. For 6 days the rebels held out against British forces until Pearce gave the order to surrender. During this time the building was completely destroyed by fired save for its granite shell and didn’t come to be rebuilt again until 1929 by the Free State government.

You can still see on the columns some of the bullet marks from the fighting.

Pearse was executed by the British for is role in the uprising along with 14 other leaders, a tactic that was to prove fatal to the British in that it turned public opinion against them.

The building itself was built in 1814 and a cost of between 50 and 80,000 pounds, which was quite a sum at that time.

We look at the gorgeous brass plafonnier that hang from the ornate ceiling. And what strikes you is how well preserved this place is and all its fittings, an example being a incredible hardwood post box – an object of real beauty. The colour scheme emphasising greens, resonates with the colour associated with the state itself, and all these cashier’s booths are meticulously preserved and maintained in their original condition from the 1929 post conflict refit.

Wikipedia site:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General...