The Long Room

We only pre-booked one activity in Dublin and that was to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College.  This allowed us to skip the long line to buy tickets and gain immediate entry into the exhibit.  The Book of Kells are hand written copies of the Four Gospels, complete with elaborate illustration and ornamentation.  These transcriptions were done on vellum (baby calfskin) and at least started if not completed by monks living in the Abbey at Iona in Scotland.  Due to Viking raids of Iona, these writings were taken to the Irish monastery at Kells in 806 A.D.  In the 1950s, the College rebound the Book into four separate volumes -- one for each Gospel.

You're not allowed to take photographs of the Book of Kells so I have none to share.  I can share pictures of The Long Room, the main chamber of the Old Library at Trinity College where the Book of Kells is displayed.   Built in the early 1700s, The Long Room holds about 200,000 of the oldest books in the Library's collection.  This is an active collection that can be utilized by scholars and students, but a Librarian must retrieve the book for you.  This is in part due to the fact that books are stored by size and weight - taller, heavier books on the bottom shelves; smaller, lighter books on the higher shelves. They are not grouped by author or subject or use the Dewey Decimal System.

How fortunate for the students at Trinity to be able to work and study in such a great space.  I'm envious W&M didn't have library rooms such as this.  We don't build facilities like this anymore, but maybe we should.