Chapel design to remember civilian victims of Rising unveiled

An Irish architectural firm has won a competition to design a chapel to commemorate the 232 civilian victims killed during the Easter Rising.

O’Daly Architects from Rathgar emerged victorious following an international competition involving 129 different entries.

The chapel will be located in the St Paul’s cemetery area of Glasnevin Cemetery where some 131 people were buried in a mass grave on the site.

The chapel will cost between €3 million and €3.5 million and is planned to open for the centenary of the Rising in two years’ time.

Emer O’Daly, the chief designer of the project, said the purpose of the chapel will be to create a “series of calming and contemplative spaces that are embedded in nature. A garden of water pools and trees is formed around which the visitor journeys from walkway to memorial to chapel space.

“The interior of the chapel is a play of light, water and stone, creating a space of transition from dark to light.”

Glasnevin Trust chairman John Green described the architectural process, which was carried out in conjunction with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) as “spectacularly successful”.

“Our ambition was that this architectural competition would produce a striking memorial to those people who lost their lives in the 1916 Easter Rising and were buried in Glasnevin, while creating a spiritual, contemplative and peaceful space in modern times for those who come to mourn and grieve for the recently deceased,” he said.

The building cost of the project will be funded partially by the Dublin Cemeteries Committee. Government funding is also being sought and the committee has commenced fundraising activities through philanthropic sources.

It is hoped to open the chapel during the Easter Rising commemorations in 2016.