Bloody Sunday centenary events at the GAA Museum

GAA Museum Bloody Sunday centenary events series The GAA Museum at Croke Park has launched a poignant commemorative events series to mark the centenary of Bloody Sunday, the darkest day in the history of the GAA and a pivotal day in the Irish War of Independence. As the national custodian of the archives and artefacts of the Gaelic Athletic Association, the GAA Museum has unveiled a diverse and sensitively curated series of events entitled ‘Remembering Bloody Sunday’, 100 years on from the day 14 civilians were killed by the RIC and 60 more were injured during 90 seconds of gun fire during a football challenge match between Dublin and Tipperary at Croke Park. The programme will include talks, tours, a new exhibition and a community programme running from August until November 2020. The focal point for the centenary commemorations will be a new Remembering Bloody Sunday exhibition at the GAA Museum, opening in September, which will explore the tragic events of the fateful day and their impact on Irish history through artefacts, newspaper reports, official documents, photographs, and victim stories. Part of this exhibition will include a specially commissioned Bloody Sunday centenary painting by artist David Sweeney, who is a former Dublin GAA senior hurling captain and the GAA’s eLearning Manager at Croke Park. The painting is titled ‘Transilience’, which means an abrupt change or leap from one state to another. Entry to the GAA Museum and the new exhibition is complimentary with all tours at Croke Park. The GAA Museum is also running special weekly commemorative Bloody Sunday guided tours of Croke Park starting 15 August, which will take visitors through the sequence of events on the fateful day and discuss the impact Bloody Sunday had on both the GAA and Ireland itself. In addition, a weekly evening ‘Mondays at the Museum’ lecture series with leading historians will examine Bloody Sunday from every angle, bringing thought provoking discussion on a diverse range of topics. This runs on Mondays from 14 September. A special edition of RTÉ Radio One’s Sunday Miscellany will also take place the GAA Museum on Saturday 14 November, focusing on Croke Park, the GAA and the events around Bloody Sunday. The GAA Museum has also teamed up with History Ireland to host one of their Hedge Schools, titled ‘History, Memory & Bloody Sunday’. Taking place in the museum on November 18, it promises to be a lively and unfettered round-table discussion with historians and well-known personalities. As part of the commemorations, community based creative writing project Fighting Words will run a series of workshops for local older residents that will involve having conversations to uncover a more personal history of the area and its people over the last 100 years. Participants will discuss general history and accounts of Bloody Sunday that may have been passed down through generations. The...