The remains of a century-old Californian redwood tree have been transformed into a sculpture commemorating Pádraig and Willie Pearse, the brothers executed for their part in the 1916 Rising.
The tree had grown in the grounds of St Enda's School, Rathfarnham, Dublin, where both brothers taught between 1910 and 1916. It had been dying for some years and had to be felled for safety reasons.
The abstract sculpture was unveiled yesterday by the Minister for the Environment, Mr Cullen, who said it evoked powerfully "the spirit of the brothers, who found in St Enda's the realisation of their educational dreams, and who made the ultimate sacrifice for their dream of an independent Ireland, which we all enjoy today".
Entitled Deartháireacha, or Brothers, the piece was created by Liam O'Neil, one of Ireland's leading wood sculptors, and draws on the fact that the tree had two separate trunks.
Mr Cullen said the redwood was uniquely suited to its subject not only because of its location at St Enda's, but because it had been "not one but two trees, springing from the same set of roots". He added: "The relationship between the brothers Pearse was both poignant and tragic. Patrick, shy and distant in his relations with most people, declared his brother to be his one true friend in life, once writing: 'What greater thing has ever happened to me than the coming of that good comrade?'"
Pádraig Pearse was commander in chief of the Republican forces in 1916.
In his last letter, written shortly before his execution on May 3rd, 1916, he expressed the hope that his younger brother - who had served as a captain in the GPO - would be saved. But Willie Pearse was executed the following day.
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