Dublin Old Library and Book of Kells
Five years ago, the terrible fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral sent shivers down the spines of curators far beyond Paris.
Heritage buildings around the world, particularly those with extensive wooden components, were suddenly in the spotlight as awareness grew about their precarious existences.
One was that esteemed haven for bibliophiles: the Old Library at Dublin’s prestigious Trinity College, where famous former Trinity students like Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and Samuel Beckett would have read and studied.
A long-mooted project to renovate this 300-year-old library, upgrading its fire-protection measures and modernising its environmental controls (to reduce dust and pollution), was fast-tracked after the blaze in France’s capital.
Expected to cost about $145 million, the renovation will take several years to complete, although until the end of 2025 it will still be possible to visit the library, including its extraordinary Long Room, a 65m-long wood-panelled chamber that traditionally houses almost a third of the library’s 750,000 books.
Camera IconSpectacular audio-visuals shape the new Book of Kells Experience at Trinity College, Dublin. Credit: Steve McKenna/The West Australian
Walking in today, I find some shelves, ladders perched beside them, already bare, their contents having been bagged, electronically tagged and stored for safekeeping (screens show library staff undertaking this painstaking process). Other shelves still heave with leather-bound volumes. But they too will be vacant in the next 18 months.
Even in its current state, the Long Room is mesmerising — aided by Gaia, a huge revolving installation (here until September 2024) by British artist Luke Jerram. Flaunting detailed NASA imagery of earth, it hangs from the barrel-vaulted ceiling above significant Irish relics.
As well as what’s claimed to be the oldest, most intricately carved Irish harp in existence (you’ll see this willow and oak instrument on Irish passports, euro coins and the Guinness logo), the Long Room exhibits an original copy of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence drawn up by rebels championing Ireland’s release from British colonial rule.
Elsewhere in the Old Library, you’ll find the Book of Kells. Crafted by monks about 1200 years ago, written on vellum (calfskin) and coloured with natural dyes, this illuminated manuscript is one of the great treasures of medieval Europe. Only a few of its 680 pages are on public display at any one time, as it’s kept in a climate-controlled case, with its pages rotated every few months. When the library closes next year, the book will be transferred for public viewing to the college’s newly-restored 18th-century Printing House.
Camera IconGaia, Illuminated Sculpture of Earth, Trinity College, Old Library, Dublin City. Credit: Steve McKenna/The West Australian
Visitors can also enjoy the new Book of Kells Experience. Launched at the start of 2024, and expected to be here until at least the library’s restoration is completed, it flings up the manuscript digitally, housed in a purpose-built red metal pavilion on one of the college lawns.
To a stirring orchestral score and the sound of turning pages, animated animals, mythical creatures and biblical figures swirl around us, with Latin calligraphy and Celtic knots and crosses adding to the psychedelic visuals. The dreamlike 360-degree projections reveal stories from the book’s four Christian gospels while plunging into its nail-biting history.
Camera IconIrish literary icons and former Trinity College students are celebrated at the new Book of Kells Experience, Dublin. Credit: Ste Murray/Supplied
A symbol of national pride in Ireland, the book was begun by Celtic monks living on the Scottish island of Iona. One dramatic projection shows the holy men fleeing murderous Viking raiders and sailing across the choppy Irish Sea, settling in the serene countryside of Kells, an abbey town in County Meath, 65km north of Dublin.
Though the Vikings would soon pillage the Emerald Isle and establish settlements here, including Dublin in AD841, the fabled book eluded their clutches and was eventually gifted to Trinity College in 1661.
The pavilion also reimagines the Long Room, with the contents of some of its prized books projected onto a smaller replica. We watch trees and leaves writhe from antique tomes about tropical plants before diving into the fantastical travels of Gulliver — a saga by Jonathan Swift, another of Trinity’s celebrated alumni. Quirkier still are the moving sculptures, with technology bringing to life characters portrayed in the Long Room’s marble busts.
Camera IconSculptures of illustrious figures adorn the Long Room at the Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin. Credit: Steve McKenna/The West Australian
You’ll observe Swift, Socrates, Shakespeare, Ada Lovelace and others having philosophical conversations as their lips move and eyes blink. A combined ticket — from €33.50 ($55) — gives you entry to this pavilion, and the real Old Library, and you’ll also get a guided 45-minute walking tour of the Trinity campus where you’ll learn about its historic buildings and hear stories of the characters who have taught and studied here.
+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Tourism Ireland. They have not influenced or seen this story before publication.
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+ For more information on visiting Trinity College and Dublin see visittrinity.ie and visitdublin.com
+ To help plan a trip to Ireland, see ireland.com
Camera IconSculptures of illustrious figures adorn the Long Room at the Old Library, Trinity College, Dublin. Credit: Steve McKenna/The West AustralianCamera IconSpectacular audio-visuals shape the new Book of Kells Experience at Trinity College, Dublin. Credit: Ste Murray/SuppliedCamera IconSpectacular audio-visuals shape the new Book of Kells Experience at Trinity College, Dublin. Credit: Steve McKenna/The West Australian
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