AN POST has launched two new commemorative stamps to mark the centenary of the opening of Scoil Éanna, or St Enda's school, established by Patrick Pearse in Ranelagh in 1908.
The stamps, which have been designed by Irish artist Thomas Ryan and go on sale today, were unveiled by Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe yesterday.
The 55 cent stamps commemorate the establishment of the boys' school at Cullenswood House by Pearse in Ranelagh in September 1908. The school moved to larger premises at the Hermitage in Rathfarnham two years later. Both stamps depict portraits of the executed leader of the Rising alongside images of the two schools.
Scoil Éanna was seen as a huge educational experiment at the time, with Pearse intent on providing a child-centred education to its pupils. Boys attending the school enjoyed a huge range of subjects, from tending the large gardens to Egyptology.
The school attracted artists such as Jack B Yeats, Beatrice Elvery and Sarah Purser who donated work and produced original plays in a theatre in the garden. Following the execution of the Pearse brothers in 1916, Scoil Éanna struggled to survive and finally closed its doors in 1935.
The Hermitage is now the Pearse Museum while Cullenswood House is currently being refurbished to house Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg , an Irish-language primary school founded in 1996.
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