Kilmainham Gaol operated from 1796 to 1924, and its history runs parallel to the entire arc of Ireland's struggle for independence. The leaders of the 1798 Rebellion were held here. Robert Emmet, hanged in 1803, was imprisoned here the night before his execution. The Fenian prisoners of 1867 were held here. And in May 1916, in the Stonebreakers' Yard, the British Army shot fourteen leaders of the Easter Rising — including Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Thomas Clarke — an act that transformed the failed rebellion into a founding myth of the Irish state.
The gaol was closed in 1924 after the final prisoner — Éamon de Valera, future Taoiseach and President — was released. It fell into disrepair, was partially restored in the 1960s, and is now one of the most visited sites in Ireland.
The tour, guided only, takes you through the Victorian wing, the dark and cramped east wing from the 1820s, the execution yard, and the chapel where Joseph Plunkett married Grace Gifford ten hours before his execution. Book well in advance in summer — tours fill up quickly.