Glasnevin Cemetery
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mid nineteenth century plain gravestone (centre) surrounded by versions of celtic crosses, which became the fashion in the late nineteenth century.
Glasnevin Cemetery (Irish: Reilig Ghlas Naíon), also known as Prospect Cemetery, is the main Catholic cemetery in Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland. It first opened in 1832.
Prior to the establishment of the Glasnevin Cemetery, Irish Catholics had no cemeteries of their own in which to bury their dead, this was due to the repressive Penal Laws imposed on the Irish by the British who had placed restrictions on the public performance of Catholic services. Glasnevin Cemetery contains many historically interesting monuments as well as the graves of many of Ireland's most prominent national figures - Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O'Connell as well as Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera, Arthur Griffith, Maude Gonne, Kevin Barry, Sir Roger Casement and Constance Markiewicz a generation later.
The cemetery also offers a fascinating view of the changing style of death monuments in Ireland over the last 200 years; from the austere simple high stone erections of the period up until the 1860s, to the elaborate celtic crosses of the nationalistic revival from the 1860s to 1960s, to the plain Italian marble of the late twentieth century. Glasnevin Cemetery has grown from its original nine to over 120 acres.
Glasnevin Cemetery is the setting for the "Hades" episode in James Joyce's Ulysses.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Glasnevin Cemetery Official Site
- Companion sites irishgraves.com and deadireland.com
- Burial Records from Glasnevin Cemetery Interment.net
