O'Connell Street

The Spire of Dublin, alternatively titled the Monument of Light (Irish: An Túr Solais), is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 120 metres (390 ft) in height, located on the site of the former Nelson's Pillar and statue of William Blakeney on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland.

Nelson's Pillar (also known as the Nelson Pillar or simply the Pillar) was a large granite column capped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, built in the centre of what was then Sackville Street (later renamed O'Connell Street) in Dublin, Ireland. Completed in 1809 when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, it survived until March 1966, when it was severely damaged by explosives planted by Irish republicans. Its remnants were later destroyed by the Irish Army. The decision to build the monument was taken by Dublin Corporation in the euphoria following Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The original design by William Wilkins was greatly modified by Francis Johnston, on grounds of cost. The statue was sculpted by Thomas Kirk. From its opening on 29 October 1809 the Pillar was a popular tourist attraction, but provoked aesthetic and political controversy from the outset. A prominent city centre monument honouring an Englishman rankled as Irish nationalist sentiment grew, and throughout the 19th century there were calls for it to be removed, or replaced with a memorial to an Irish hero. It remained in the city as most of Ireland became the Irish Free State in 1922, and the Republic of Ireland in 1949. The chief legal barrier to its removal was the trust created at the Pillar's inception, the terms of which gave the trustees a duty in perpetuity to preserve the monument. Successive Irish governments failed to deliver legislation overriding the trust. Although influential literary figures such as W. B. Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty defended the Pillar on historical and cultural grounds, pressure for its removal intensified in the years preceding the 50th anniversary of the Rising, and its sudden demise was, on the whole, well-received by the public. Although it was widely believed that the action was the work of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the police were unable to identify any of those responsible. After years of debate and numerous proposals, the site was occupied in 2003 by the Spire of Dublin, a slim needle-like structure rising almost three times the height of the Pillar. In 2000, a former republican activist gave a radio interview in which he admitted planting the explosives in 1966, but, after questioning him, the Gardaí decided not to take action. Relics of the Pillar are found in Dublin museums and appear as decorative stonework elsewhere and its memory is preserved in numerous works of Irish literature.

Dublin (; Irish: Baile Átha Cliath, pronounced [ˈbˠalʲə aːhə ˈclʲiə] or [ˌbʲlʲaː ˈclʲiə]) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Situated on a bay on the east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster and the Eastern and Midland Region. It is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 census, it had an urban area population of 1,173,179, while the population of the traditional County Dublin as a whole was 1,347,359. The population of the Greater Dublin Area was 1,904,806.There is archaeological debate regarding precisely where and when Dublin originated, with a settlement established by the Gaels during or before the 7th century CE, and a second, Viking, settlement, following. As the small Kingdom of Dublin, the city grew, and it became Ireland's principal settlement after the 12th century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire after the Acts of Union in 1800. Following independence in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland in 1937. Dublin is a contemporary and historical centre for Irish education, arts and culture, administration and industry. As of 2018 the city was listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as a global city, with a ranking of "Alpha minus", which places it as one of the top thirty cities in the world.

Clerys was a long-established department store on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland, a focal point of the street. The business dates from 1853, however the current building dates from 1922, having been completely destroyed in the 1916 Easter Rising. Clerys completed a five-year restoration programme in 2004 at a cost of €24 million. A renovation project is in place to bring the building back to its former glory including a new proposed rooftop destination.The group also included three "At Home With Clerys" homewares stores in out-of-town retail parks at Blanchardstown, Leopardstown and Naas; and the discount department store Guiney and Co (a different company to the Guineys chain) at 79-80 Talbot Street; all of which closed during the 2012 receivership. There had formerly been a fashion-only outlet in The Square, Tallaght but this had already closed by the time of the receivership.

O'Connell - GPO (Irish: Ó Conaill - AOP) is a stop on the Luas light-rail tram system in Dublin, Ireland. It opened in 2017 as a stop on Luas Cross City, an extension of the Green Line through the city centre from St. Stephen's Green to Broombridge. It is located on O'Connell Street, a short distance from the General Post Office and provides access to the Spire of Dublin.

The Imperial Hotel was a hotel in Dublin's principal thoroughfare, Sackville Street, until it was destroyed during the Easter Rising of 1916. The building comprised Clerys department store on the lower floors and the Imperial Hotel on upper floors situated opposite the General Post Office and Nelson's Pillar.

The General Post Office (GPO; Irish: Ard-Oifig an Phoist) in Dublin is the headquarters of An Post, the Irish Post Office, and Dublin's principal post office. Sited in the centre of O'Connell Street, the city's main thoroughfare, it is one of Ireland's most famous buildings, not least because it served as the headquarters of the leaders of the Easter Rising. It was the last of the great Georgian public buildings erected in the capital.

The Capitol Theatre, was located in Prince's Street, just off O'Connell Street, Dublin and began life on 10 August 1920 as the La Scala Theatre and Opera House designed by architect T.F. McNamara it had two balconies in the 1,900 seat auditorium with 32 private boxes. Despite its name, the La Scala was a cinema. Paramount Pictures took over the lease on the building and renamed it the Capitol in 1927. Under new management, the Capitol ran a live show every week to accompany the current film. Well-known Irish acts to appear in these shows included Peggy Dell, Martin Crosbie, brother of Paddy Crosbie, creator of the School Around the Corner, and Sean Mooney. The last stage show was on 29 October 1953. The Capitol continued as a cinema until 1972. It was demolished along with the adjacent Metropole Cinema and a branch of the department store chain British Home Stores was built on the site. This in turn closed and was replaced by a branch of the Irish Penneys chain.

North Earl Street (Irish: Sráid an Iarla Thuaidh) is a short stretch of city-centre street located on Dublin's Northside and formerly a major shopping area. It runs from Marlborough Street in the west to O'Connell Street beside the Spire.

Cathedral Street is a street in central Dublin, Ireland, formerly known as Elephant Lane and Tyrone Place.

The Savoy Cinema is the oldest operational cinema in Dublin, and it is the preferred cinema in Ireland for film premières.

Southern Ireland (Irish: Deisceart Éireann) was the larger of the two parts of Ireland that were created when Ireland was partitioned by the Government of Ireland Act 1920. It comprised 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland or about five-sixths of the area of the island, whilst the remaining six counties in the northeast of the island formed Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland included County Donegal, despite it being the largest county in Ulster and the most northerly county in all of Ireland. The Act of 1920, which became effective on 3 May 1921, was intended to create two self-governing territories within Ireland, each with its own parliament and governmental institutions, and both remaining within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It also contained provisions for co-operation between the two territories and for the eventual reunification of Ireland. However, in the 1921 elections for Southern Ireland's House of Commons, Sinn Féin candidates won 124 of the 128 seats (all candidates were unopposed and no actual polling occurred), and ignored the parliament, assembling instead as the Second Dáil. The Parliament of Southern Ireland—consisting of the four unionist members—met only once. Continuing unrest resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the Provisional Government, which administered Southern Ireland from 16 January 1922 to 5 December 1922: effectively a transitional administration for the period between the ratifying of the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment of the Irish Free State. Its legitimacy was disputed by the Anti-Treaty delegates to Dáil Éireann. Southern Ireland, as a political entity, was superseded by the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922 (which later became the fully independent state of Ireland from 1937 with the adoption of its own constitution).