May 18 - Book of Kells and the Long Hall

We were able to get in right away this morning to see the Book of Kells.  It was created around 800 AD, almost 1100 years ago.  It is an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels.  It is considered a masterwork of Western Calligraphy and the pinnacle of Insular Illumination (works from Ireland and Britain in the post-Roman period). And it is Ireland's greatest cultural treasure.  No photos were allowed of the actual book but the exhibition about the early books included lots of large copies that could easily be examined.  It is magnificent.  This picture is of a copy of the Book of Kells that we saw in a church earlier in our tour of Ireland.

They had a very good and comprehensive exhibit about the Book of Kells and other old manuscripts.  There were a lot of illustrations and information on book making back in the day.

We then headed up to the Long Room.  This is the Old Library of Trinity College, is nearly 207 feet long and contains over 200,000 of the oldest books in the library.  The beautiful old room dates from 1712.  Trinity College is a Copyright Library and is allowed a free copy of every book published in Ireland and Britain.  Consequently the library (which is housed in several buildings) has over 7,000,000 volumes in total.  The Long Room contains the collection of some of the oldest and most valuable books in the collection.

The main hall is lined with busts of writers, philosophers and supporters of Trinity.

The Long Room also has the Brian Boru Harp (also the “Trinity College harp”) that dates to the 15^th century.  This harp is the national symbol of Ireland. 

On the way back to the hotel we ran across a demonstration blocking some of the main streets.  They were protesting the high cost of housing and the conversion of housing into rental properties.

Ha' Penny Bridge

We spent the afternoon repacking and weighing our luggage…we have way too much stuff.  Doesn’t help that our very good, expensive luggage starts out way too heavy.