The General Post Office took its place in modern Irish history when it became the centre stage of the Easter Rising in 1916 and secured the distinction of becoming the centre of a revolution. Built in 1818 halfway along O'Connell Street (formerly Sackville street), the GPO (right) became a symbol of the 1916 Easter Rising. Members of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army seized the building on Easter Monday and Patrick Pearse read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic from its steps. Inside the building is a sculpture of the legendary Irish warrior Cuchulainn, dedicated to those who died for their part in the Easter Rising. The General Post Office (GPO) (Irish: Ard-Oifig an Phoist) in Dublin is the headquarters of the Irish postal service An Post, and Dublin's principal post office. Sited in the centre of the city's main thoroughfare O'Connell Street, it is one of Ireland's most famous buildings and was the last of the great Georgian public buildings to be erected in the capital.
