The head of Horatio Nelson, the only surviving part of a destroyed Dublin pillar, has a new home.
The fiigure of naval commander Admiral Horatio Nelson overlooked Dublin from above O'Connell Street until the once popular pillar was bombed in 1966. The Nelson Pillar had been erected in what was Sackville Street, Dublin in 1808.
It became a famous landmark for Dubliners.
A bomb planted by republicans on 8 March 1966 badly damaged the pillar and made the structure unsafe. A week later, the remainder of the pillar was blown up by army engineers.
The head from the figure of Nelson survived the bombing and is now on display to the public at Dublin City Library.
The caretaker of the column describes the Nelson Pillar prior to its destruction. The structure stood at 120 feet and took 166 steps to reach the top.
Nelson's head survived the blast and is the only remaining relic of the pillar.
Now on display at Dublin City Library on Pearse Street, Nelson's head had previously been kept at Dublin Civic Museum, which has closed for refurbishment. Mary Clark, archivist at Dublin City Library, provides a brief history of the head, which had sustained bullet wounds during the 1916 rising.
Next year it will be 40 years since the pillar was blown up and Dubliners are being invited to visit Nelson's head to mark the occasion. Shay Courtney recalls his memory of the night the pillar was blown up.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 8 September 2005. The reporter is Teresa Mannion.
