100 Years of the Easter Rising in Ireland

The statue of Hibernia on the roof of the General Post Office, whose seizure in 1916 marked the outbreak of the Easter Rising. The name of the statue — a symbol of Ireland derived from its ancient Greek designation — is the work of sculptor John Smyth. It is regarded as a witness to the events of 1916 and, for a century since, as an embodiment of the country's development in accordance with the ideals of the Proclamation. Her gaze is directed toward the future; she stands equally as a symbol of the country's past, present and future. Along the upper inner edge, the word "HIBERNIA" appears as if handwritten — a reference to the historic Book of Kells. The sun's rays evoke the Rising and the Proclamation, which stand at the beginning of a new nation and a new republic. To either side of the statue are the years "1916" and "2016". Along the lower inner edge, the name of the issuing state "EIRE" and below it the issue year "2016".

On Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, around 1,200 Irish republicans occupied the General Post Office in Dublin — the main post office became the command centre of the uprising and has since remained the central symbol of the Irish struggle for independence. Patrick Pearse read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic on the steps of the building, declaring the Irish people's right to self-determination. British forces crushed the uprising after six days using heavy artillery; large parts of central Dublin lay in ruins. The subsequent execution of fifteen leaders, including Pearse and James Connolly, triggered a shift in public sentiment among the Irish population and gave the republican movement a boost that ultimately led to the Irish War of Independence and the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922.

The General Post Office on O'Connell Street was rebuilt after the uprising and has remained the headquarters of An Post, the Irish postal service, ever since. Above the entrance portal stands the stone figure of Hibernia — the personified representation of Ireland, whose name derives from the ancient Greek and Latin terms for the island. The sculpture was created by the Dublin sculptor John Smyth in the early 19th century, long before the events of 1916 gave it additional historical significance. Ireland marked the centenary of the Easter Rising in 2016 with extensive state commemorations; on this occasion, the country issued a 2-euro commemorative coin that preserves the memory of one of the most formative moments in Irish history.