Besides visiting the Guinness factory, this is considered the biggest attraction in Dublin. It was amazing to see. The Book Of Kells is located inside Trinity College.
The College was built in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a Protestant way of thinking about God. It is Ireland's most prestigious college. It was first limited to rich Protestant men. Women were admitted in 1903. Catholics were only given formal permission by the Catholic Church to study at Trinity in the 1970's. Today, half of all the students are women and 70% are Catholic. Only 20% of Irish youth are churchgoing.
As you can tell, the first 2 are postcards to get an overall view, better than I could get.
The Book Of Kells is a lavishly decorated copy, in Latin, of the 4 Gospels of the Life of Christ. It dates from the 9th Century, written by dedicated cloistered monks on the remote island of Iona near Scotland. It came to Trinity College in 1653 for security purposes. It was first displayed to the public in the mid 1800's.
It was written on vellum. The vellum was made by slaughtering 185 calves, soaking the skins in lime, scraping off the hair and drying the skins. They can still detect hair follicles on some the pages.
Vellum
Closeup view of the writing
The next 2 pictures show the intricate designs and artwork in the Book Of Kells
Description of the Book Of Kells
This is the Long Room, built between 1712 and 1732. It is situated on the 1st floor of the Old Library, chosen by the designer to preserve the books from the elements. It is the longest single room library in Europe. It is 200 ' long and stacked to the ceiling with 200,000 books.
Postcard
My pictures
I am always amazed at how intricate and elaborate they built buildings back hundreds of years
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