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For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can help keep paywalls away.
CUSTOM HOUSE’S VISITOR Centre is once again open to members of the public.
The re-opening of the centre last Thursday is part of a longer term project to provide public access to one of Dublin’s most iconic buildings.
The Custom House was designed by renowned architect James Gandon and was completed in 1791 after a 10-year construction period.
As part of the Decade of Centenaries initiative – which marks a hugely significant period in Irish history – an exhibition running at the centre describes events in the building during Easter Week 1916.
It explores the history of the Custom House and its occupants from then until 1921, when the building was completely destroyed by a fire during the War of Independence.
The Custom House stands directly across from Liberty Hall, which was the base of the Irish Citizen Army during the Rising, and beside Butt Bridge, the then last crossing-point of the River Liffey, and is fewer than 400 metres from the GPO itself. Despite this, the building didn’t play a huge role in the Easter Rising.
The exhibition considers this and explores other links between Custom House and historical events of the period.
The four main elements of the exhibition are:
Some of the well-known former staff of the Custom House include entertainer Percy French who was an inspector of drainage schemes under the Board of Works; novelist and humourist Brian O’Nolan aka Myles na gCopaleen or Flann O’Brien, and novelist Maurice Walsh whose short story The Quiet Man was the plot for the classic John Ford film.
Admission is free and more information can be read here.
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