Kilmainham Gaol named among world’s top tourist attractions by Tripadvisor, beating the Acropolis (2024)

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Kilmainham Gaol named among world’s top tourist attractions by Tripadvisor, beating the Acropolis? ›

Kilmainham Gaol has been rated by the users of Tripadvisor as the top museum attraction in the world. The jail, where the leaders of the Easter Rising were executed, is the 13th best attraction in the world, according to Tripadvisor, and the highest ranked museum.

Before its closure in 1924, Dublin's Kilmainham Gaol housed some of the most famous political and military leaders in Irish history. The prison is considered a must see in Dublin and offers a panoramic insight into some of the most profound, disturbing and inspirational themes of modern Irish history.

Between the 3rd and 12th of May 1916, fourteen men were executed by firing squad in the Stonebreakers' Yard of Kilmainham Gaol. Seven of them had been the signatories of the Proclamation. These were Thomas Clarke, Seán Mac Diarmada, Thomas MacDonagh, Patrick Pearse, Éamonn Ceannt, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett.

Really fascinating place to go and visit to learn more about the struggle for independence. Our tour guide was absolutely brilliant. Go early as the queues can be very very long! The tour was very interresting and gave us an insight in the prisons history as well as the irish history.

Kilmainham Gaol is one of the biggest unoccupied gaols in Europe. Now empty of prisoners, it is filled with history. It has aptly been described as the 'Irish Bastille'. When the Gaol was first built public hangings took place at the front of the Gaol.

Movies such as The Quare Fellow (1962), The Italian Job (1969), and The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977) were all partially filmed at the Gaol. They also received huge popular support from tradesmen, having as many as 200 working pro bono on the site at evenings and weekends during the 1960s.

Post-independence period

Kilmainham Gaol was decommissioned as a prison by the Irish Free State government in 1924. Seen principally as a site of oppression and suffering, there was at this time no declared interest in its preservation as a monument to the struggle for national independence.

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Kilmainham Gaol / Tickets

Please allow approximately 90 minutes for your visit. Guided tours of the building take one hour, and visitors will also have access to our museum.

On the evening of 14 February 1921, at the height of the Irish War of Independence, three men - Ernie O'Malley, Simon Donnelly and Frank Teeling – escaped from British custody in Kilmainham Gaol.

Who was the youngest person in Kilmainham Gaol? ›

The gaol was used to hold all kinds of prisoners, including women and children, the youngest prisoner documented being a five-year-old boy. The Gaol was built in 1796 and originally referred to as the “New Gaol,” as it was built as a replacement for an older gaol.

One of the founders of the United Irishmen, Henry Joy McCracken, was the first significant political prisoner to be kept in Kilmainham Gaol. He was imprisoned there on 11 October 1796 and hanged two years later.

Wicklow Gaol is a former prison, located in the town of Wicklow, County Wicklow. There was a prison on the site since the late eighteenth century up to 1924. Prisoners were held at Wicklow Gaol during the 1798 Rebellion and the Great Famine, and many were held there prior to penal transportation.

Locations. The interior of the prison that held Bridger was Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, Ireland. The exterior, seen when Croker leaves, is HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs in west London. Upon his release, Croker stays at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in Bayswater, London.

Shepton Mallet Prison is located in Somerset, England and appeared as the prison's exterior, while the interior scenes were shot all the way in Dublin, Ireland at prison-turned-museum Kilmainham Gaol.

Fleury-Mérogis Prison (Maison d'arrêt de Fleury-Mérogis) is a prison in France, located in the town of Fleury-Mérogis, in the southern suburbs of Paris. With more than 4,100 prisoners, it is the largest prison in Europe. It is operated by the Ministry of Justice.