Last chance to catch war exhibition

Richmond Barracks Dublin

Naming the dead has a powerful resonance for those left behind; we put names on gravestones and monuments, in death notices and on memorial cards.

Now Dubliners can visit a moving work remembering and listing the names of all of the Irish war dead who fell on Belgium soil in the First World War.

A large memorial book, Assembly, records 174,000 soldiers’ names and forms the central part of a new exhibit from the In Flanders Fields Museum in Belgium, now on display in Ireland for the first time. Along with an oversize book of the names of the war dead, the installation consists of five chairs (representing each year of the war).

The exhibit has previously been on view in Dublin City Library and Archive on Pearse Street and at City Hall on Dame Street. On 13th May it moved to Richmond Barracks in Inchicore and will stay there until May 26th.

The dead soldiers’ names are listed alphabetically in the book, with space beside the names for their relatives to leave a note, photograph or memento to him. Items from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive will also be on view to support the exhibit.

By: Paul O’Rourke