The Great Seal of the Irish Free State (Irish: Séala Mor do Shaorstát Éireann) is the seal which was used to seal official documents of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) by the Governor-General. The Great Seal is currently on public display at National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks, Dublin.
Both sides of the Great Seal feature an image of the harp surrounded by the words "SAORSTÁT ÉIREANN" in Gaelic script. One side is engraved in silver, the other in copper.
After the 1937 Constitution of Ireland was enacted the Seal of the President of Ireland was struck as a replacement to the Great Seal. It is substantially the same as the former Seal but features the word "ÉIRE" instead of "SAORSTÁT ÉIREANN".
Read more about Great Seal Of The Irish Free State: Origins, Evolution
Famous quotes containing the words seal, irish, free and/or state:
“To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives: it is the only way we can leave the future open. Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, no intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk, is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.”
—Lillian Smith (1897–1966)
“The Irish ... are the damnedest race. They put so much emphasis on so many wrong things.”
—Margaret Mitchell (1900–1949)
“The mere fact of leaving ultimate social control in the hands of the people has not guaranteed that men will be able to conduct their lives as free men. Those societies where men know they are free are often democracies, but sometimes they have strong chiefs and kings. ... they have, however, one common characteristic: they are all alike in making certain freedoms common to all citizens, and inalienable.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)
“I see the state of all of us who live, nothing more than phantoms or a weightless shadow.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)