There were no rifles or riots this time, but it was a similarly expectant gathering which awaited the second reading of the document that changed the course of Irish history.
Exactly 86 years to the day that Pearse stood outside the GPO and read aloud the Proclamation of an Irish Republic, an original copy of the document was unveiled yesterday in the building where it all began.
The copy, one of just 18 known to survive worldwide, was one of the original print-run of posters ordered by Pearse for posting around Dublin to underpin the Rising.
An Post bought the document at auction in November 2000 for €25,000 and left it in the hands of restoration experts until yesterday, when it was hung in the philatelic shop, just off the GPO's main chamber.
The experts cleaned the fragile paper but could not fix the original glitches, which reveal the difficult circumstances under which it was printed.
A shortage of type meant the printers had to use different fonts and the letter "e" appears in various shapes and sizes throughout. It also had to be printed in two sections, with one half in a light ink and the bottom section darker.
In one corner is the hand-written note: "Found in Dublin Easter 1916 by John Phillips."
"We don't know who he was but he may have been an RIC man," said Mr Stephen Ferguson, An Post's head archivist.
Mr John Foley, An Post spokesman, said the search had been on for some time to secure a copy of the document.
"The connection between the building and the document is quite striking, quite compelling, and we were keen to have one where the public could see it."
The GPO is already listed by Dublin Tourism as one of the top attractions in the city, with at least 40,000 visitors a year.
"This will be an added interest, certainly to people with Irish roots and to Irish people as well," said a spokeswoman.
The unveiling was attended by Michael and Kevin Stanley, whose grandfather, Joe Stanley, was press officer for Pearse during Easter Week. He printed subsequent documents and circulars in a printing press which James Connolly ordered him to commandeer on Halston Street.
He was supposed to print the Proclamation, too, in his own Gaelic Press print business in Liffey Street but the British shut it down.