HAVE you noticed how fashionable nostalgia has become? Clearly, the centenary of the 1916 Rising has given us all an appetite for rediscovering and appreciating our history.
A trip into town has taken on a whole new significance with city landmarks such as the Shelbourne Hotel, the GPO, Dublin Castle and Boland’s Mills piquing our interest like never before. It’s now hard to pass some of these buildings without looking for bullet holes or other evidence of the tumultuous events of 100 years ago.
Our schools are playing a starring role in nurturing the renewed interest in Irish history. Even primary school children can now rattle off a list of the Easter Rising leaders and tell you about the Proclamation or the symbolism of the Irish tricolour. My own kids told me things about 1916 that I never knew.
There is now a fantastic opportunity for all of us to re-engage with our past through numerous walking tours, virtual tours, bus tours, apps and interactive displays about the Easter Rising. Through the prism of history, Dublin looks more fascinating than we ever could have imagined.
Coverage of 1916 on the national airwaves has been well-intentioned, if a little patchy. The widely anticipated RTÉ drama, ‘Rebellion’, was a bit of a mixed bag; a confused hybrid of ‘Downton Abbey’ meets ‘Fair City’ meets ‘Love/Hate’. Although it offered some insight into the human cost of the Rising, the production was let down at times by clunky dialogue and an inconsistent narrative.
Not so the excellent ‘1916’ documentary series, narrated by Liam Neeson, which has made for compulsive viewing and gives a painstaking account of the events leading up to and including the Rising.
It’s somewhat timely that Neil Jordan’s classic biopic, ‘Michael Collins’, is being re-released for its 20th anniversary. A certain amount of artistic licence may have offended some historians, but the film offers an intriguing snapshot of life in Ireland in the aftermath of the Easter Rising and the painful, divisive journey to Irish freedom.
If you’re looking for something to do in Dublin this weekend to give you a sense of our city’s past, you will be spoiled for choice.