Irish Museum of Modern Art and Kilmainham Gaol

So yesterday I joined a few people from my group and we decided to go to the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Walking down the street we just so happened to randomly find the Guinness factory, but alas we did not go through St. Jame's Gate.




Instead, we stuck to our plan and just up the road we arrived at the front entrance to the museum.







It appeared to be, like many of the buildings in Dublin, anything but modern in its structure. I do not know the history of the building, but It appears to be of a military-style construction. I am sorry to inform my readers that I was unable to take any photographs while inside the museum, but I can tell you from personal experience that the outside of the museum was greater to view than the sum of the artworks inside.



Upon exiting the museum we decided to walk through the other side of it towards Kilmainham Gaol (pronounced 'jail') which had a terrible, but intriguing history. It was built in the Victorian Era as a new form of prison with the policies of individual confinement and silence being paramount.

Unfortunately, the Great Famine, caused by a pan-European potato blight, happened shortly after the prison's opening. This resulted in massive overcrowding, often with five to six to a single cell. Indeed the prison was often seen by the populace as a better place to be than the slums. At the time people often committed crimes in order to be put in Kilmainham where they were at least assured three meals a day.



During the 1916 Uprising it was used by the British as a political prison and many important Irish political figures, such as Eamon de Valera, were held there at the time. Many were also executed in one of the courtyards. (if you have seen the film Michael Collins this courtyard is seen near the beginning)


During the Irish Civil War the prison was utilized again as a political prison by the Irish Free State. It was abandoned as a prison in 1924 and was left in a general state of non-upkeep, mostly because people wanted to forget about the terrible memories of it, but through private donations it was refurbished and reopened as a museum in 1966; the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

At the end of the tour we were told to exit in the same way as the first jailbreaks from Kilmainham, who paid off the guards, received the keys to the front door and walked out! Hope you enjoyed the virtual tour of one of the more fun days I've had here so far. Wish you all were here!