The Trinity College Library is indescribably impressive. It dates to 1592 and holds a copy of every book published in Ireland. The barrel vaulted Long Room is 213 ft. (84 m.) long, lined on two floors with more than 200,000 old leather-bound books reachable on ladders.
The first floor of the Long Room has marble busts of Irish writers and poets at the end of the rows.
At the end of the library there is a circular staircase leading to the second floor. In the basement of the library is the famous Book of Kells.
An opportunity presented itself to isolate the circular staircase against a wind to create a silhouette. The windows are covered with screens to prevent direct sunlight from damaging the books.
The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript of four Books of the New Testament written in 800 A.D. This is a picture of an Arabic illuminated manuscript on display, as no photos are allowed of the Book of Kells, of course. They did allow Queen Victoria, however, to autograph the Book of Kells when she visited. Happy Reading Day! Go visit a library
6 comments:
What a thrill to be able to visit this library. I wonder how much access patrons have to the stacks? I imagine that the most valuable old books must be off-limits for some of the volumes. This is a great post for April which is National Poetry Month for our country. I'd be over the moon to be able to visit this place!
You got some beautiful pictures inside. I love the looks of the place and can imagine the lovely smells of all those old books.
This place is very appealing to me. I'd love to see all those stacks and stacks of books.
Wow, very impressive library, would love to see this one.
The library is just beautiful! And I am so envious that you've seen the Book of Kells in person!
Marvelous. Your photos today remind me that it has been 40 years since I visited the Trinity College Library on my first trip out of North America. My how time flies.
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