Did you know that
Trinity College has another name? It does. Trinity College is also known by
University of Dublin. Since there is only one campus, the names Trinity College
and University of Dublin are interchangeable.
Trinity College was
established in 1692 and was modelled after Oxford and Cambridge, but only has
one college whereas Oxford has 38 constituent colleges and Cambridge has 31.
Trinity College is the oldest school in Ireland and was set up in part to
consolidate the Tudor rule over Ireland. According to Wikipedia: Trinity
College “was seen as the
university of the Protestant
Ascendancy for
much of its history.
Although Catholics and Dissenters had
been permitted to enter as early as the end of the XVIII century (1793), certain restrictions on their
membership of the college remained until 1873 (professorships, fellowships and
scholarships were reserved for Protestants). From 1956 to 1970, the Catholic Church
in Ireland forbade its adherents from attending Trinity College without
permission from their archbishop. Women were first admitted to the college as
full members in January 1904.” There are different ratings for Trinity
College according who is doing the rating and, for the year 2015, was rated
between 78 and 170 best in the world. It is rated as the best in Ireland.
You can read more
about Trinity College and its history on Wikipedia.
Trinity College
library is well known and is a legal depository library for Ireland and the
United Kingdom, and contains over 4.5 million volumes, significant number of manuscripts,
maps, and music. One of its most famous holdings is the Book of Kells.
The Book of Kells
is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin which contains the four
gospels as well as various prefatory texts and tables. It is believed
that the book was created approximately 800 AD at a Columban monastery in
Ireland or that a number of Columban institutions across Britain and Ireland
contributed to it. It is the most complex illuminated manuscript of its time.
The illustrations are composed of human, animal, and celtic knots with a good
variety of colour.
Today, the
manuscript is composed of 340 folios in 4 volumes. The leaves are made with
calf vellum and is worth making the trip to see. The name of the book comes
from the Abbey of Kells which was its home for centuries.
If you make it to
Dublin, you really should go to Trinity College and see the Book of Kells for
yourself. There is a cost. The price ranges between €9 and €28, depending on
your circumstances. Be ready to wait in line to get into the library. As a
matter of fact, I would not be surprised that there is a long line every day,
all day. The line does move fairly quickly. The first part of the display gives
some history about the making of the Book, with static presentations on how the
ink was made, how the vellum was prepared, and what life was like when this
book was being created. After going through the displays, you then go upstairs
to the room where the Book of Kells is kept. It is in a locked display cabinet
where no one can touch it but you can see the superior workmanship that went
into it. Before seeing it, my brother believed that we would be seeing a copy,
and would not believe me when I told him that we would be seeing the original
book. I don’t know what the security is like for this book, but I don’t think
that I would like to be the person who trips the wire, so to speak. If you are planning to take some pictures with your camera, think again. Cameras cannot be used while viewing the displays and the Book.
When you are finished looking at the Book, your way out will take you through the Old Library Hall. And, yes, it looks the same as in the pictures. When I am surrounded by that many books, I have absolutely no idea where to start.
I did discover
that there have been reproductions done on the Book of Kells. There were
digital photographs taken that were put on CD and sold through the College gift
shop. These are no longer available. However, those digital photographs can now
be seen online at:
Enjoy!
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