Glasnevin Cemetery Museum

Glasnevin Cemetery, on the north side of Dublin, is Ireland's national cemetery and effectively a map of modern Irish history written in headstones. It was founded in 1832 by Daniel O'Connell to give Catholics a dignified place of burial at a time when that was not guaranteed, and now holds the remains of around 1.5 million people — a roll-call of the figures who shaped the modern Irish state.

The graves include O'Connell himself, beneath the 55-metre O'Connell Tower (the tallest round tower in Ireland, climbable for a view over the city); Michael Collins, whose grave is among the most visited in the country; Éamon de Valera; Charles Stewart Parnell; the leaders of 1916; and writers, rebels and ordinary Dubliners alike. The museum tells the social history of death and remembrance and the stories behind the monuments.

The guided walking tours are the best way to experience Glasnevin — the guides connect the graves into the narrative of independence, civil war and nation-building, and the Collins and republican-plot tours are particularly strong. The cemetery is a 25-minute walk or short bus from the city centre, right beside the National Botanic Gardens (free) — the two make a natural half-day, with the famous Gravediggers pub (Kavanagh's) on the cemetery wall for afterwards.