Who am I?

A journalist student from Dublin, Ireland. I'm looking to show the world a view through my camera's lens and where I point it. You may even learn something about photography along the way! Weekly blog posts about my adventures.

Friday 11 December 2015

Dublin Tourism Part 1

I was thinking about starting a little series on the sites of Dublin that the famous red tour bus, that you see driving around the city every day, stops at every 10 minutes. I see it nearly every day because I'm in the city centre most days. So I thought, before the crowds get busy in 2016 I would start with Glasnevin Cemetery.

The cemetery opened in 1832 and it is the final resting place of some 1.5 million people. There is a genealogy that can be found on the cemeteries website: http://www.glasnevintrust.ie/genealogy/
While records of all burials date back to February 22nd 1832 and they give all the information including the exact spot of the deceased, there was not always a headstone and so almost three-quarters of those buried in Glasnevin are in unmarked graves.

Glasnevin Cemetery, Finglas.

One of Dublin's most popular tourist attraction, I had actually never been there before today! However I have been past it outside it before, loads of times. The sheer size of it just from the outside always made me wonder just what was going on. The history behind the walls is astounding!




This short clip I got from the Glasnevin Cemetery YoutTube page goes into a little bit of the history of Patrick Pearse. The Cemetery has loads of tours you can do to find out more about who is buried there and why they're buried there. The YouTube page for the cemetery can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo17SEQ0MxmNdSLscSANTDQ

One of the biggest attractions of the Cemetery is the grave of Michael Collins.

Michael Collins grave, Glasnevin Cemetery. 
The man who fought in the Easter Rising in 1916 is buried right here! This is his actual grave! thousands of people come to see the grave stone and pay their respects. The reason the cemetery will be so popular next year will be because it will be the 100th anniversary of the rising. This I'm sure, will bring even more tourists to come and see the grave and the rest of the cemetery too. 

I brought my camera today and had a look around before I did any shooting to get a feel for the place. The size of it was amazing. I tried walking to the other side of the cemetery which was great and I just kept thinking to myself about all the headstones and how beautiful they are the the detail that went into some of them was really unbelievable. 

Grave in Glasnevin Cemetery.
See what I mean! Some of the graves are just amazing. 

The first and last thing that caught my eye in the cemetery, and really it can be seen over the whole place is the O'Connell Tower which is situated just inside the entrance. 

O'Connell Tower, Glasnevin Cemetery
O'Connell Tower, Glasnevin Cemetery

The tower can be climbed on tours. The 168 foot climb can be made to a viewing spot by between six to eight people at a given time. Restored in 2013 from a bombing in 1971, it is now open to the public. Originally opened somewhere between 1855 and 1869, the tower was built to commemorate the death of Daniel O'Connell who established the cemetery in 1832. 

Watch-tower, Glasnevin Cemetery 
Watch-tower plaque, Glasnevin Cemetery 





















In each of the four corners of the cemetery are a watch-tower made to watch over the cemetery for body-snatchers. In an era of grave robbers to take the bodies and use them in medical schools to show students and discover more about how the human body is made up, the watch-towers were erected to protect the graves in the cemetery.

Church Chapel, Glasnevin Cemetery

The chapel, also just inside the entrance of the cemetery is beautiful. I couldn't get inside it to have a look around as there was a funereal on. This got me thinking though, imagine how many funereal services that little chapel has had and who has been through its doors. 

The history of the Glasnevin Cemetery is amazing and I strongly recommend paying it a visit if you're on the tour buses! I want to go back and do some of the wide range of tours they have and visit the museum.

@andyiwaller
Andy.

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