Nelson's Pillar

Nelson's Pillar
Nelson's Pillar (circa 1830)
Location in central Dublin
Alternative names	The Nelson Pillar The Pillar
General information
Status	Demolished
Location	O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland
Coordinates	53°20′59.29″N 6°15′36.96″W / 53.3498028°N 6.2602667°W / 53.3498028; -6.2602667Coordinates: 53°20′59.29″N 6°15′36.96″W / 53.3498028°N 6.2602667°W / 53.3498028; -6.2602667
Groundbreaking	15 February 1808
Opening	21 October 1809
Demolished	8–14 March 1966
Client	Dublin Corporation
Design and construction
Architect	William Wilkins Francis Johnston

Nelson's Pillar (also known as the Nelson Pillar or simply the Pillar) was a large granite column capped by a statue of Horatio Nelson, built in the centre of what was then Sackville Street (later renamed O'Connell Street) in Dublin, Ireland. Completed in 1809 when Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, it survived until March 1966, when it was severely damaged by explosives planted by Irish republicans. Its remnants were later destroyed by the Irish Army.

The decision to build the monument was taken by Dublin Corporation in the euphoria following Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. The original design by William Wilkins was greatly modified by Francis Johnston, on grounds of cost. The statue was sculpted by Thomas Kirk. From its opening on 29 October 1809 the Pillar was a popular tourist attraction, but provoked aesthetic and political controversy from the outset. A prominent city centre monument honouring an Englishman rankled as nationalist sentiment grew, and throughout the 19th century there were calls for it to be removed, or replaced with a memorial to an Irish hero.

Parts of central Dublin were destroyed during the 1916 Easter Rising, but although it was near the rebels' headquarters, the Pillar remained unscathed. It remained in the city as Ireland became an independent Free State in 1922, and a republic in 1949. The chief legal barrier to its removal was the trust created at the Pillar's inception, the terms of which gave the trustees a duty in perpetuity to preserve the monument. Successive Irish governments failed to deliver legislation overriding the trust. Although influential literary figures such as James Joyce, W. B. Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty defended the Pillar on historical and cultural grounds, pressure for its removal intensified in the years preceding the 50th anniversary of the Rising, and its sudden demise was, on the whole, well received by the public. Although it was widely believed that the action was the work of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the police were unable to identify any of those responsible.