Anna in Dublin – GPO Museum

The GPO or General Post Office is one of the most important buildings in all of Irish history.

It is the central post office here in Dublin and although it provides great postal service, that’s not what it is best known for.

It served as the headquarters for the leaders of the 1916 Easter rising. It was outside this building, underneath the great columns, that Patrick Pearse read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic on Monday 24 April 1916. Many people didn’t take the rebels seriously until the violence started.

I got to visit the GPO Museum for the first time recently. It was opened in 2016 to celebrate the centenary of the rising and I’m embarrassed to say I had never been even though it has been top of my list for years.

Now we have had quite a lot of centenaries lately in Ireland and since I was in TY back in 2016, I had really heard enough about the rising to last a lifetime. But it’s been a few years and my passion for history has vastly increased since my mopy teenage years. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit and brush up my history.

Now whether you know a lot or a little about Ireland’s fight for independence this museum is absolutely worth a visit!

We were lucky to be provided with a guide to bring us around the exhibition. We were all given headphones so that it was easy to hear what was being said and so that the group wouldn’t disturb other guests. Gregory, our guide, was a phenomenal teacher and took us right back to basics and explained all the politics leading up to the outbreak of the rising. Our group definitely had a range of knowledge levels so this was really a great way to make sure everyone had a base understanding of the history.