Cenotaph to Michael Collins
This newsreel, filmed in August 1923, shows the unveiling of a Cenotaph to honour the memory of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. It marks the first anniversary of their deaths and is unveiled in Dublin.
This was a wooden structure that contained plaster medallions of both men. By 1939 the structure had become dilapidated and with Finn Gael’s approval, Éamon de Valera had it dismantled. It was agreed that a permanent structure would be put in place in 1940 but due to the Second World War it would nine years before the new solid granite obelisk would stand.
