on the road less travelled in Ireland and france

Once upon a time you could see the Book of Kells for free. You could wander in off the street and see the 9th century artefact without paying an admission price and standing in line. That was in the 1970s. Today it’s different. Conal and Fran were left wondering: “Was it worth it?”

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 (After lunch): Next stop was to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin, just down from Bewleys.

The English Queen Elizabeth I founded Trinity College in 1592 as “the mother of a university” that was modelled after the collegiate universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

It is Ireland’s oldest university and home to the world-famous 9th century manuscript, the Book of Kells.

Their website tells you the Book of Kells is “a handwritten copy of the four gospels of the New Testament, the Book of Kells is filled with ornate Latin text and intricate illustrations.

“View the ancient manuscript in the heart of the Old Library, before marvelling at the awe inspiring Long Room library chamber.

“Some of the Long Room’s hidden gems include the Brian Boru Harp, Ireland’s oldest surviving harp, and a rare original copy of the Proclamation, a seminal text in Irish history.”

A TOUCH OF HISTORY

The Book of Kells was named after an Irish town in County Meath. However, its origin is associated with St. Colum Cille (known as Saint Columba), who founded a monastery on Iona Island in the Inner Hebrides near Scotland’s western coast in 563 CE.

The Viking raids started at the end of the 9th century, and many monks living on the island were killed during the following years.

The monks relocated to Ireland’s mainland and brought the book with them. During the invasion of Oliver Cromwell, the Book of Kells was sent to Dublin to prevent any damage.

In 1661, Bishop Henry Jones donated the Book of Kells to Trinity College, where it’s still on display.

There are usually two of the four volumes on display, and the pages are turned after some time.

You can admire only a couple of pages from the original manuscript, the text, and the vibrant images.

Despite being so old, the book is well-preserved, and only a few pages are missing.

Book of Kells is not a reading book but rather a beautiful piece of art and is believed to be used as an altar decoration during special events.

Being honest, a lot of people walk past it. Including Fran and myself. We both had to backtrack to look at it. It was underwhelming.

BACK IN TIME

We arrived at Trinity College at what must have been Freshers Week (ie new students starting at the university) – as there seemed to be a lot of young people simply laying around the place.

We hadn’t booked a ticket for a nominated time slot, but we only had to wait a few minutes for the next available opening.

We had nominated (and paid for) the guided tour. As we lined up, I told Fran of my own experiences at Trinity College. I was never a student there, but back in the 1970s the Book of Kells wasn’t such the big thing it is in the 21^st century.

Back then you could wander off the street into the Long Hall Library and see the Book of Kells in a small, standard glass display case.

Every day somebody from the library would turn over to the next page. If you worked, or studied in the centre of Dublin you could visit the library every day and see new pages … all free of charge. I had seen the Book of Kells many times and was surprised when the university started charging money to see it. (Current cost per adult is 19 Euros, about $30. Not worth it, in my honest opinion.)

From memory, the display case wasn’t even alarmed – somebody with a hammer could easily smash the glass and make off with the priceless book.

While we waited to enter I told Fran how the now-world famous band, The Cure, had played the Fresher’s Ball at Trinity College in 1981 (when the band was starting out). The queue security guard overheard me talking about the gig and confirmed the story. “There were about 70 at the concert, but – over the years – the number of people who claimed to have been at that gig is closer to 70,000”, we were told.

A few minutes later, Fran and I shuffled into the library building and into the Book of Kells antechamber. There were some displays about the sacred book and other books from the era, there were historical signs … but nobody to guide us. We all wandered around, waiting for guidance.

None came. There was a mobile phone app we could have downloaded. That might have explained things. So we wandered through, like everybody else, through a darkened room, saw a Perspex glass box, there was a book inside … and went up the stairs into the Old Library.

So, where was the famous Book of Kells? I asked, looking around? No sign of it. That’s when I realized we had just walked past it … before we took the stairs into the light.

Back down. Saw the book. Might have taken a photo, wasn’t allowed. A bit of a yawn really.

WORK IN PROGRESS

The Old Library was impressive, however the lengthy room (like something out of Harry Potter) was in the midst of renovations so books were being removed. The room has 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books in its oak bookcases.

The main chamber of the Old Library is the Long Room; at nearly 65 metres in length, it is normally filled with 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books and is one of the most impressive libraries in the world.

When built (between 1712 and 1732) it had a flat plaster ceiling and shelving for books was on the lower level only, with an open gallery. By the 1850s these shelves had become completely full; largely as since 1801 the Library had been given the right to claim a free copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland. In 1860 the roof was raised to allow construction of the present barrel-vaulted ceiling and upper gallery bookcases.

Marble busts line the Long Room, a collection that began in 1743 when 14 busts were commissioned from sculptor Peter Scheemakers. The busts are of the great philosophers and writers of the western world and also of those connected with Trinity College Dublin – famous and not so famous. The finest antique bust in the collection is of the writer Jonathan Swift by Louis Francois Roubiliac.

(In recent times the busts of female philosophers and writers have been added, if you look closely, you can see the differences between the Old Boys Club and their newer female counterparts.)

Another treasure in the Long Room is one of the few remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic which was read outside the General Post Office on 24 April 1916 by Patrick Pearse at the start of the Easter Rising.

There is also a medieval harp on display known as the Brian Boru harp. The harp is the oldest of its kind in Ireland; it has incorrectly become associated with the great Irish king Brian Boru (died 1014). Although its early history is uncertain, it probably dates from the 15th century. It is made of oak and willow with 29 brass strings, and is the model for the emblem of Ireland.

As usual the tour filtered out through the gift shop, nothing interested us there so we walked out into the bright afternoon sunshine.

RECOMMENDATION

The Book of Kells had been ticked off our Dublin To-Do list. Was it worth it? In my humble opinion, no.

Fran says: Nice, wouldn’t do it agan.