22‭ ‬February‭ ‬1832:‭ ‬Glasnevin‭ (‬Prospect‭) ‬Cemetery,‭ ‬Dublin opened its gates on this day.‭ ‬The first internment was of Michael Carey,‭ ‬aged four,‭ ‬of Francis Street.‭ ‬This place of burial was established to allow the Catholic population of the City to have a place to bury their dead without impediment.‭ ‬The old Penal Laws had meant that all bodies had to be interred in Protestant graveyards.‭ ‬With the coming of full Catholic Emancipation in‭ ‬1829‭ ‬the imperative to establish a graveyard free from religious connotations took hold.‭ ‬When Glasnevin opened it was for the use of every person of regardless of Religion.‭ ‬The establishment of Prospect Cemetery coincided with burial reform and the rise of the‭ '‬garden cemetery‭' ‬movement in Britain and Europe.

It now holds the graves of some‭ ‬1.2‭ ‬million people including those of many famous Irishmen and women.‭ ‬Amongst those were laid to rest within its walls are Daniel O'Connell,‭ ‬Charles Stewart Parnell,‭ ‬Eamon De Valera,‭ ‬James Larkin,‭ ‬Maud Gonne MacBride,‭ ‬Countess Markievicz,‭ ‬Ann Devlin,‭ ‬Brendan Behan,‭ ‬Michael Collins,‭ ‬Gerard Manley Hopkins,‭ ‬and many victims of the Great Famine.

There is now an onsite museum and regular walking tours of the grounds are available on a regular basis.

* Picture above of Michael Collins grave beside the Museum by William Murphy of Dublin