A valuable restoration - Good example

Today, as the decade of centenary celebrations continues apace, we report on a major conservation project on a Cork City landmark — the city’s National Monument.

The monument honours those who fought for Irish freedom in a series of rebellions — 1798, 1848, and 1867 — that reached a conclusion of sorts in 1916. The striking monument is the subject of a major rejuvenation, one that will safeguard it for the next half century or so.

Nearly every community in the country, from the largest to the smallest, has some symbol of its past, some statue, a gravestone or a memorial tablet in a church, that makes a meaningful contribution to that community’s understanding of itself. Could there be a better way to mark the centenaries facing us all than to restore some of these monuments, no matter to whom or what they commemorate, no matter how seemingly insignificant? They, after all, tell the full story of how we became what we arebetter than nearly any other medium. There are, after all, few better catalysts for unity and undestanding than recognising a shared past.