1916 Easter Rising exhibition in Dublin 30th/31st May

Morlar

This is already posted in the History and Heritage forum but probably belongs here too.

1916 exhibition in Dublin 30th/31st May


An exhibition of original 1916 related material is being held in Wynns Hotel in Abbey Street, Dublin on the weekend of the 30/31st May 2009

This exhibition has been organised to display a unique collection of memorabilia and artefact's from the Easter Rising.

These will include

The surrender flag from Moore Street, Jack Plunketts bullet marked Volunteers slouch hat, The lock of James Connolly's hair cut the night before his execution on the families instructions, along with Connolly's silver medal awarded to him for the "Dublin Labour War of 1913-1914" Tom Clarke's diary, wallet, photo album and other personal effects.

There will also be a fine collection of original uniforms, flags, medals and other items from the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army and Na Fianna.

Most of these items have been in safe keeping of the immediate families and have therefore never been seen in public before.

This is a rare chance to view them.

There will also be the opportunity to view a digitally enhanced print of the famous GPO Garrison veterans group photograph taken in Croke Park in 1938. A volunteer will be on hand to help add any names to the many unidentified faces within the group. Relatives of the executed 1916 leaders will also be present over the weekend.

James Connolly Heron a great grandson of James Connolly will be unveiling an alternative plan for the Moore Street area.

On Sunday 31st there will be guided tours of 'Battlefield Moore Street' at 2pm 4pm 6pm. This event is being held to highlight the proposed fate of No. 16 Moore Street which was the last head quarters of the GPO garrison in 1916 and was the site from which the garrison surrended. It is being held to build on the success of the recent 'Arms Around Moore Street' demonstration.

Morlar

I was in at this on saturday and it was well worth checking out. Not a huge array of exhibits but enough items to make it worthwhile and many probably wont be seen again as they came from the family's collections.

Lots of esoteric kinds of items, pension books, photos, books, letters, trinkets of hair, the surrender flag of 1916 ( a large hankerchief actually). Lots of medals - some quite rare. Including (american marine corps shooting expert bar added to Irish medals) Uniforms, IRA bandoliers, and so on.

One set of items that stood out for me was to see Thomas Clarke's personal posessions, and there in his wallet were some business cards to 'Thomas Clarke Stationer & Tobacconist'.

It really brought it home that the 1916 men were all just normal average working people, schoolteachers, newsagent owners and so on trying to make a living while fighting against the british empire in Ireland. Very touching to see those items in my view.

arnhem44

Sounded like a realy good exibit and its great that the families value these items and let them be publicly displayed,I think its sad when you see items of significant importance been sold off at auction only to be put in private collections such as many of the 1916 memrobillia

Morlar

arnhem44 wrote: »

Sounded like a realy good exibit and its great that the families value these items and let them be publicly displayed,I think its sad when you see items of significant importance been sold off at auction only to be put in private collections such as many of the 1916 memrobillia

One of those organising the event was James Connolly's grandson (who was there on saturday). I spoke to another organiser and have to say I agreed fully with his take on this - come the year 2016 and every politician in Ireland will be jumping on the Easter Rising Centenary bandwagon yet right now they (the organisers of the campaign to save 16 Moore St) can not so much as get an appointment with John Gormley of the Greens (minister for Heritage among other things).

While a developer wants to build all around and underneath one of the few remaining listed buildings with a very obvious connection to the Easter Rising.

In my view it will be horrific if we get another department store rather than presenting those buildings as a heritage /educational site - in a manner respectful to the men who fought and died in the Rising.

arnhem44

That sounds about right with the politicians,never around when you need one and always pops up when something big is going on,of course they'd bend over backwards this weather looking for votes.God wouldn't it be some crime if they let development get in the way of such important heritage buildings such as 16 moore st.,lineing there own pockets from developers with years the bast***s

molders

Hello, thanks to everyone who came along and to the previous poster for their positive comments. We tried to show these people as ordinary men and women and I think that came across in the exhibition. Most of the leaders items (with the exception of Tom Clarke-Adams sale 2006) came directly from the families themselves and won't have been seen in public before. The exhibition itself took a lot of voluntary effort to stage but we are already planning our next event. Its hard to believe that in this day that Dublin City Council want to build another shopping centre on such a historic site. This street has been allowed to decay in front of our eyes so that any development on it will be seen to be welcomed, including gutting a National Monument to install toilets and a canteen for a shopping centre and a "park in the sky". It is easy to forget when you walk down Moore Street today that numbers 15-17 are a National Mounument. In case anyone needs reminding a National Monument is described as "A monument considered by the State to be of "national importance". Such monuments are therefore preserved by the State" you have only to look at those buildings to see that the State, as in so many other areas today is failing to honour its obligations. We will continue to try and save the terrace from destruction and will shortly be launching an alternative plan for the terrace. This plan details how the terrace can be saved, restored and put to good use for future generations.

branners69

Would have loved to have seen this exhibition, is it a yearly event?

Where did you hear about it?

Would definitely go to see it the next time!