Kilmainham Gaol
Former County Gaol Opened In 1796 Where Leaders Of The 1916 Easter Rising Were Executed; Museum In OPW Care, Visits By Guided Tour Only · Dublin, Dublin
Kilmainham Gaol (Priosun Chill Mhaighneann) is the former county prison of Dublin, opened in 1796 and closed in 1924, and now one of the most important museums in Ireland. For more than a century it held men, women and children for crimes large and small, from Famine-era theft of food to rebellion, and many leaders of Irish nationalism passed through it, from Robert Emmet in 1803 to Charles Stewart Parnell and Eamon de Valera. In May 1916 fourteen leaders of the Easter Rising were shot by firing squad in its Stonebreakers' Yard, and the executions turned public opinion towards independence. People come for the guided tour through the cold old west wing, the chapel where Grace Gifford married Joseph Plunkett hours before his execution, and the soaring Victorian east wing, familiar from films. It is about 3.5 km west of the centre, by the free Irish Museum of Modern Art. The honest caveat: every visit is a guided tour with limited places, it often sells out weeks ahead, and walking up without a ticket usually means disappointment.
Inchicore Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8, about 3.5 km west of the city centre, Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Open all year, daily, usually roughly 09:30 or 10:30 to about 17:15-17:45, with the last tours earlier; closed roughly 24-27 December and on Good Friday (confirm other closures). Every visit is a guided tour and must be booked online in advance. Tickets release 28 days ahead at midnight Irish time, and a small extra batch is added each morning from about 09:15. The tour starts at the courthouse visitor centre beside the gaol (confirm). Reach it by Luas Red Line to Suir Road or Heuston and a walk of about 10-15 minutes, by Dublin Bus from the centre, or by taxi.