Glasnevin Cemetery will take its place among the great resting places of the world after an €11 million makeover, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said today.
Caretakers believe a new museum as well as the restoration of monuments and tombstones will draw as many as 250,000 visitors every year.
If proven correct, the north Dublin burial ground - which holds 1.5 million bodies - will become one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country.
Famous political figures buried in the cemetery include its founder, the "Liberator" Daniel O'Connell, Michael Collins, Eamon De Valera, Charles Stewart Parnell, O'Donovan Rossa, Arthur Griffiths and Countess Markiewicz.
Brendan Behan, Luke Kelly, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Michael Cusack and Liam Whelan are some of the great artists and sports stars laid to rest there.
Officially opening the museum today, Mr Cowen said it was the first of its kind in the world and would establish Glasnevin alongside the famous Pere Lachaise in Paris, the Milan Monumental Cemetery and the Arlington National Cemetery in the US.
"Walking through Glasnevin, with its monuments, statues, headstones and inscriptions is like taking a walk through Irish history," he said.
The museum, funded by the Glasnevin Trust, features an underground City of the Dead exhibition charting the history of the graves, including the ghoulish activities of body snatchers who dug up remains to sell to medical students.
There is also a roll of honour of great inhabitants, genealogical research facilities, a 70-seater restaurant and a panoramic viewing gallery.
One of the first exhibitions at the centre will be on Daniel O'Connell, who set up the cemetery in 1832 for the purpose of burying "people of all religions and none".
Glasnevin Trust is also working with the Office of Public Works on a new "green space" - which will be the second largest in Dublin after Phoenix Park - to be opened in time for the Easter Rising centenary celebrations in 2016.
The new park will link the cemetery with the Botanic Gardens and the Tolka Valley Park.
The Government is giving €9 million of public funding towards the development and a restoration of the 140-acre burial ground.