Readings, Translations & Debate – Trinity Marks Proclamation Day
Posted on: 15 March 2016
Trinity marked Proclamation Day with a series of events including the launch of a collection of 17 translations of the 1916 Proclamation at a special reception hosted by the Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast with the Lord Mayor, Críona Ní Dhálaigh and ambassadors to Ireland in attendance.
Each ambassador received a copy of the Proclamation in their own language. The translations were commissioned by the Trinity Centre for Literary Translation.
Director of the Trinity Centre for Literary Translation, Sarah Smyth, said: “Translation is at the heart of all commemoration — translation from one time to another, from one place to another and from one language to another.”
They included translations in Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish that will be hosted on the Decade of Commemoration Website to complement the original English and Conradh na Gaeilge versions.
Provost, Dr Patrick Prendergast said on opening the event:
"Today is the centrepiece of Trinity’s year-long commemoration of the Rising. The College was a key location during the Rising – the campus was turned into a hospital for the wounded, and within a week 4,000 troops were stationed here. This centenary has provided us with the opportunity to explore what happened within College walls a 100 years ago. And it’s an opportunity for us, as a centre of learning and creativity, to examine the legacy of the Rising, historically and artistically."
Meanwhile, across the campus Trinity Students’ Union took part in a nationwide reading of the 1916 Proclamation along with all educational institutions. Organised by the TCD Students’ Union 1916 Centenary Initiative the reading by students took place on the Berkeley Podium was accompanied by performances by members of Trinity’s Trad Society.
Also yesterday evening Trinity’s historians debated and discussed the Proclamation in a symposium entitled The 1916 Proclamation in its National and International Context organised by the Trinity Long Room Hub, and the School of Histories and Humanities.
The 1916 Proclamation is regularly misquoted and often misunderstood, according to Professor Patrick Geoghegan who, along with historians Anne Dolan, Eunan O’Halpin and Micheál Ó Siochrú among others, provided a fresh interpretation of one of the most iconic documents in Irish history at the public discussion to mark the country’s first ‘Proclamation Day’.
The Trinity experts demonstrated how key moments in Irish history shaped the 1916 Rising and also analysed the Proclamation alongside similar documents in China, France and America at the event.
Professor of Modern History and Trinity Long Room Director, Jane Ohlmeyer, who chaired the event said:
“This Symposium really showcases the breadth of expertise in Trinity’s Arts and Humanities schools in relation to the events of 1916. In our unique take on the 1916 Proclamation, we will uncover an added layer of depth in re-interpreting the Proclamation from a historical and global perspective.”