General Post Office

I know I'm posting a lot, but it's a good way for me to journal during this program. Don't feel bad if you can't keep up with me and comment. This is what I need to do for myself. But I do hope you'll enjoy the visit.

I had to mail some postcards today, so I thought there would be no better place to mail them than in the General Post Office in Dublin, where the leaders of the Easter uprising of 1916 had their headquarters.

The uprising was defeated and its leaders arrested and executed. But less than three years later, in 1919, survivors of the Rising convened and established the Irish Republic.

I added this photo today so you could see the bullet holes in the column in front of the GPO.



An original copy of the Proclamation of independence is on permanent display inside. You can read the proclamation here.

In 2005 the Irish government decided to go ahead with a plan to move postal services elsewhere and preserve this building as a commemoration to the Easter Uprising.


Today I also saw an exhibit of William Butler Yeats at the National Library. His handwritten copy of the poem “Easter 1916” was not there in the case where it should have been by this plaque.

“Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.
O when may it suffice?”

Here you can read the whole poem.

This is an inspiring place. And tomorrow we go to Tara again!