Fodor's Expert Review James Connolly Visitor Centre (Áras Uí Chonghaile)
The fascinating story of James Connolly, from his birth in 1868 to his execution in Dublin for his part in the Easter Rising in 1916, is told in this £1 million interactive visitor center, opened in 2019 by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins and funded largely by American labor unions. The bilingual exhibition—in Irish and English—explores Connolly's crucial role as a pioneer of the early trade union movement, his travels throughout America, and his work closer to home. A laborer, docker, engineer, and salesman, Connolly was also a soldier, political activist, and writer. In 1902, he went on a five-month tour of America, later emigrating to the States. A huge map charts his journey which involved traveling by train to Colorado and New Mexico to address workers. In the ground-floor exhibition, excerpts from Connolly's letters and his quotations are brought to life through an audio library of poetry, music, and an interview with his daughter. Visitors hear stories of the citizen... READ MORE
The fascinating story of James Connolly, from his birth in 1868 to his execution in Dublin for his part in the Easter Rising in 1916, is told in this £1 million interactive visitor center, opened in 2019 by the Irish President Michael D. Higgins and funded largely by American labor unions. The bilingual exhibition—in Irish and English—explores Connolly's crucial role as a pioneer of the early trade union movement, his travels throughout America, and his work closer to home. A laborer, docker, engineer, and salesman, Connolly was also a soldier, political activist, and writer. In 1902, he went on a five-month tour of America, later emigrating to the States. A huge map charts his journey which involved traveling by train to Colorado and New Mexico to address workers. In the ground-floor exhibition, excerpts from Connolly's letters and his quotations are brought to life through an audio library of poetry, music, and an interview with his daughter. Visitors hear stories of the citizen army he founded to protect workers, his influence on the text of the Easter Proclamation, his leadership in the Rising, his subsequent court-martial and death sentence. A display cabinet contains his pistol and the knocker from the GPO in Dublin, the headquarters of the uprising's leader.
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