The G.P.O. and the 1916 Rising

 
Besides its architectural significance and its role as the chief office of the Irish Post office, Dublin’s G.P.O. holds a place of particular symbolic importance for Irish people for it was the headquarters of the men and women who took part in the Easter Rising of April 1916. While that rebellion ended in failure with most Irish people lamenting the death and destruction which had been caused, it was the catalyst for events that were to lead to Irish independence and the creation of a new State.

Easter Monday, 1916

Easter Monday, 24th April 1916, was a pleasant Spring day in Dublin. Inside the Post Office, a reduced staff was on duty keeping essential services open for the public. Just after mid-day, a contingent of men who had assembled at Liberty Hall a short distance away entered the building and ordered staff and customers to leave. Upstairs, a number of Post Office telegraph staff and some unarmed soldiers barricaded the doors and refused to leave until shots were fired at them. The rebels, under the leadership of Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, were drawn mainly from the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army. Motivated by various ideals but imbued with the common belief that only an armed revolt could bring about the independence of Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom, they chose the G.P.O., the communications heart of the country and the centre of Dublin city, as the building on which to hoist the flag of an Irish republic.

Smouldering Ruins:

For nearly a week, the G.P.O. garrison resisted the strength of the forces arrayed against it. Fighting here and in other parts of the city was intense with civilians bearing the greatest hardship. At last, with the building on fire and crumbling, the decision was taken to leave it and to try to break through the surrounding army cordon. An attempt was made to do this but Pearse, realising the futility of further fighting, finally took the decision to surrender. The smouldering ruins of the G.P.O. bore silent witness to the momentous events that had taken place.  View a larger image of the photograph.