Pictured at the launch of The Dublin Risisng 1916-2016 an interactive Google Street View Tour, at Barrow St last night were An Taoiseach Enda Kenny with Brittany Campbell and Sinead McArdle.

Pictured at the launch of The Dublin Risisng 1916-2016 an interactive Google Street View Tour, at Barrow St last night was Gearoid O'Briain, Great Grandson of Cathal Bruagh.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has officially launched a new interactive Google tour that allows users to virtually visit the key sites and explore the events of the 1916 Easter Rising.

Narrated by Dubliner Colin Farrell, the tour, Dublin Rising 1916-2016, offers access to a host of rare and previously unpublished material.

Using Google technology, users can tour central Dublin locations as they are today and through photos, stories and witness statements, they can relive the sights and sounds of the uprising as they unfolded 100 years ago.

At the launch in Google’s Dublin HQ last night, Mr Kenny said the online exhibition would help to “preserve our history”.

“Having some engagement with Google previously, I asked what they were going to do [for the commemorations],” said Mr Kenny. “They have answered that call and answered that challenge, and they have put together a sort of time machine. What is on offer is unrivalled access to a treasure trove of archival images and resource material that brings the stories of the people and the places of 1916 to life at the click of a button,” he said. The virtual tour is part of a collaboration between Google, the National Library of Ireland, Military Archives, Glasnevin Cemetery Museum, the Abbey Theatre, the Royal Irish Academy and Trinity College.

To access the tour, visit: www.dublinrising.withgoogle.com

Online Editors