Fusiliers Arch looking out of St Stephens Green

The Fusiliers' Arch is a monument which forms part of the Grafton Street entrance to

St Stephen's Green St Stephen's Green () is a garden square and public park located in the city centre of Dublin, Ireland. The current landscape of the park was designed by William Sheppard. It was officially re-opened to the public on Tuesday, 27 July 1880 by ...

park, in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Erected in 1907, it was dedicated to the officers,

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

s and enlisted men of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who fought and died in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

(1899–1902).

Construction

Funded by public subscription, the arch was designed by John Howard Pentland and built by Henry Laverty and Sons. Thomas Drew consulted on the design and construction. The proportions of the structure are said to be modelled on the

Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus (; ) is a 1st-century AD honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in 81 AD by Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to comm ...

in Rome. It is approximately wide and high. The internal dimensions of the arch are 5.6 m high and approximately 3.7 m wide (18 by 12 ft). The main structure of the arch is granite, with the inscriptions carried out in limestone and a bronze adornment on the front of the arch.

Dedication and reception

The arch was commissioned to commemorate the four battalions (two regular and two militia) of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers that served in the Second Boer war. The names of 222 dead are inscribed on the underside of the arch. The construction of the arch coincided with a time of political and social change in Ireland, and the colonial and imperial background to the dedication were anathema to a burgeoning nationalist movement – who labelled the structure "Traitor's Gate". Though damaged in a cross-fire between the

Irish Citizen Army The Irish Citizen Army (), or ICA, was a paramilitary group first formed in Dublin to defend the picket lines and street demonstrations of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union (ITGWU) against the police during the Great Dublin Lock ...

and British forces during the 1916

Easter Rising The Easter Rising (), also known as the Easter Rebellion, was an armed insurrection in Ireland during Easter Week in April 1916. The Rising was launched by Irish republicans against British rule in Ireland with the aim of establishing an ind ...

, the arch remains "one of the few colonialist monuments in Dublin not blown up" in Ireland's post-independence history.

Text

Engraved on the western face is the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

text, , "To its strongest soldiers, Dublin dedicates this monument, 1907." ( Eblana is a name that appears on

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's 2nd century AD map of Ireland, traditionally taken as a Latin name for Dublin, although it more likely refers to a site further north, around Loughshinny.) Six battlefields are inscribed on the arch: *Talana: Battle of Talana Hill, 20 October 1899 *Ladysmith:

Battle of Ladysmith The Battle of Ladysmith, also known as the Battle of Lombard's Kop, was one of the early engagements of the Second Boer War. A large British force which had concentrated at the garrison town of Ladysmith launched a sortie on 30 October 1899, ag ...

, 30 October 1899 *Colenso: Battle of Colenso, 15 December 1899 *Tugela Heights: Battle of the Tugela Heights, 14–27 February 1900 *Hartshill: Hart's Hill, 23 February 1900, part of the

Relief of Ladysmith The Relief of Ladysmith consisted of multiple efforts to relieve the city of Ladysmith by General Sir Redvers Buller during the Second Boer War. Buller and the Natal Field Force attempted to relieve the city through multiple offensive actions ...

*Laings Nek:

Laing's Nek Laing's Nek, or Lang's Nek is a mountain pass, pass through the Drakensberg mountain range in South Africa, south of Charlestown, South Africa, Charlestown, at at an elevation of 5400 to . It is the lowest part of a ridge that slopes from Majub ...

was the scene of intense fighting, 2–9 June 1900. Not to be confused with the more famous Battle of Laing's Nek (1881)

Notes

References

{{commons category, Fusilier's Arch, Dublin Triumphal arches Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Second Boer War memorials St Stephen's Green Buildings and structures completed in 1907 20th-century architecture in the Republic of Ireland