The Old Library at Trinity College. The Book of Kells is on the right side of the building.
After lunch, it was off to Trinity College. My main reason for going was to see the Book of Kells. However, the rest of the campus is worth a visit also.
I lingered long enough in the main courtyard to enjoy some of the architecture of the campus' buildings. Then, it was off to the Old Library. It costs IŁ3.50 for adult admission, IŁ3.00 for students to enter the Book of Kells exhibit and the Old Library. After paying the admission price in the giftshop, one goes into a fascinating exhibit on the creation of the book. Attention is also given in the exhibit to the various symbolic art that decorates the book. The exhibit is a great way to get a crash course on the document's significance.
At the end of the exhibit is the Book itself. Two decorated pages are shown along with two pages of text. The decorated pages on display the day I was there (the curators change the pages on display regularly) were the beginning of the Gospel of St. John. All I can say is that the actual book is equal to the hype surrounding it. It is quite a remarkable melding of literature and art.
After viewing the Book of Kells, one goes into the library itself. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Here were row after row of bookshelves that reached from the floor to the roof in an area at least 100 yards in length. The whole thing was capped with a curved wooden roof that added a dramatic tone to the building. It was easily the most impressive library I've been in. I even liked it better than the British Library (not the new one, but the old one in part of the British Museum). I could've spent the better part of a day in there.
It was in the Old Library that my suspicions that Ireland was just another part of the United States were heightened. In one corner was a book from the 1400s. A note in front of it said that the College was trying to raise funds to restore the book. Next to the book was a glass case nearly filled with currency. However, only two of the notes that I saw in the case were Punts. All the rest were Dollars. Obviously, there were a lot of Americans in Dublin that day.
The Book of Kells and the Old Library should be a must visit for any tourist to Dublin. Since Trinity College is in the center of the city (just immediately south of the Liffey on Westmoreland St.), it's a great place to begin exploration of the city.
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