The Garden of Remembrance   (April 24, 1916  The Irish Uprising begins)

                                  At the northern end of Parnell Square in Dublin is a small,
                                  peaceful park, dedicated to the men and women who have
                                  died in pursuit of Irish freedom. The Garden of Remembrance
                                  marks the spot where several leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising
                                  were held overnight before being taken to Kilmainham Gaol,
                                  and where the Irish Volunteers movement was formed in 1913.
                                  The park also commemorates those who died in other conflicts
                                  in the struggle for Irish freedom, notably: the 1798 rebellion, the
                                  1803 rebellion,  the Young Ireland rebellion,  the Fenian
                                  uprising in the 1860s, the land wars, and the Irish War of
                                  Independence between 1916 and 1922.

The Garden was opened in 1966 by President de Valera on the
fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising. The Dublin architect and
conservationist Daithi Hanly RIP designed the lawns, which encircle
a sunken pool. The floor of the pool displays a mosaic pattern of
blue green waves interspersed with ancient weaponry. The spears
are shown broken following the ancient Celtic custom of throwing
weapons into rivers and lakes as offerings to the gods when
hostilities ended.

 

                       At one end of the park stands a bronze statue of the Children of Lir, sculpted
                       by Oisin Kelly RIP. The children are an important part of Irish folklore - they
                       were turned into swans by their jealous stepmother for 900 years. They
                       became human again after this time but, frail and weak, died soon
                       afterwards. Today, killing a swan in Ireland is illegal.

 

                          The sculpture evokes Yeats' famous lines about the 1916 Rebellion:
                              "All is changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born".

 

The Plaque Reads:

In the darkness of despair we saw a vision.
We lit the light of hope and it was not extinguished.
In the desert of discouragement we saw a vision.
We planted the tree of valour and it blossomed.
In the winter of bondage we saw a vision.
We melted the snow of lethargy and the river of resurrection flowed from it.
We sent our vision aswim like a swan on the river. The vision became a reality.
Winter became Summer. Bondage became freedom
and this we left to you as our inheritance.
O generations of freedom remember us. The generations of the vision."