Educational Visits
GPO Museum is an interactive and immersive experience, with a range of tours specifically designed for Primary Schools, Secondary Schools, Third Level Colleges, International Students and Language Schools. Students are taken behind the historic façade of the GPO to examine the moments that have shaped modern Irish History, from the late 1800s up to the present.
These events are brought to life through electronic touch screens, video, audio-visual booths, sound, and over one-hundred authentic artefacts. A highlight of the visit is the specially created film ’Fire and Steel’. Inspired by Walter Paget’s ‘Birth of the Irish Republic’, ‘Fire and Steel’ plays on a 180 degree screen and transports visitors back to 1916, taking them through the key events of Easter Week, when the GPO was the headquarters of the Provisional Government.
Primary Schools
GPO Museum offers educational guided tours specifically designed to support the Primary School Curriculum. The tour interprets a number of strands within the Primary School History Curriculum including “Working as a Historian” and “Story”.
During the guided tour, your class will travel back in time and learn about the lead up to the 1916 Easter Rising, the events of Easter Week and the aftermath including the War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. A powerful and immersive film will bring the students inside the GPO, where they can experience what it was like to be in the building during the Easter Rising. Games and activities will allow your class to explore Ireland’s history in a fun and accessible way and these include sending Morse code, sorting letters and acting as a dispatch rider.
Secondary Schools
GPO Museum offers educational guided tours specifically designed to support the Junior, TY and Senior Cycles.
During the tour, the guide places the 1916 Easter Rising into its social, economic and cultural contexts and examines the events of the week through key documents and artefacts, and through the eyes of those who witnessed the events; the rebels, crown forces, the GPO workers and the bystanders.
The aftermath and the consequences of the Easter Rising; both in terms of the national and international contexts are examined and explored. At all times, in keeping with the curriculum, there is a key focus on evidence, on what witnesses have to say and on what primary sources can tell us.
Third Level
GPO Museum offers educational visits for third level students that takes them on a journey through modern Irish history from the late 1800s to 2016.
Explore the 1916 Easter Rising and the major events of modern Irish history, including the War of Independence, the Irish Civil War and the development of both the north and south of Ireland from 1922 to 2016 with one of our tour guides. Join an emotional journey that brings the people and stories of the time to life.
A new guided tour entitled “Museums: Constructing History” has been designed for students studying Public History, Cultural, Heritage and Museum courses and programmes. This guided tour delves into the challenges and responsibilities that must be navigated in disseminating information through a museum exhibition. Recognising the role museums play in shaping popular perceptions and public discourse surrounding historical events, it explores how theoretical elements relating to the field of public history are applied in practice.
International Students & Language Schools
GPO Museum is a must-see for international students who wish to learn about modern Irish history. The iconic GPO (General Post Office) is famous for being the headquarters of the 1916 Easter Rising which eventually led to Ireland’s independence.
At GPO Museum, English language students will learn about the 1916 Easter Rising and the other major milestones in modern Irish history which have laid the foundations for the country we are today.
A visit to GPO Museum includes the following:
- A specially created guided tour for language students consisting of ten or more students (for under ten students, it is self-guided)
- Our tour guides tell the story in a clear, easy to understand way
- An interactive and immersive experience which brings history to life
In 2017 GPO Museum was presented with the Micheletti Award by the European Museum Academy.
Through unbiased accounts and authentic personal stories, in an iconic location, the museum brings history to life in an original way. When presenting the 2017 Micheletti Award, European Museum Academy judges acknowledged GPO Museum as a centre of peace and reconciliation, saying it demonstrates how ‘highly controversial events can be interpreted in ways that encourage social and political cohesion and understanding’