Dublin, Ireland-The Book of Kells at Trinity College, Dublin Writer’s Museum, and a Humorous Bus Tour 7-25-08

This was the first day of my mini-break not spent traveling. I, with several other library students, decided to go spend a couple of nights in Dublin, which basically included one full day. We got up that morning and met up to take the Double Decker tour bus through Dublin. We were going to use it mainly for transportation between places we wanted to visit, but the driver/tour guide on that particular bus was very entertaining, so we ended up riding it all the way around, which gave us a chance to see a good bit of Dublin and learn some of the history there. We then went to the Dublin Writer’s Museum and got the chance to see original letters, photos, and other personal effects of some of Ireland’s more well-known writers, and quite a few writers that I had not heard of before. Some of the writers included in the exhibit were: Jonathan Swift, Abraham ‘Bram’ Stoker, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, George Moore, Samuel Beckett, and Elizabeth Bowen.

For more information about the Dublin Writers' Museum, go to: http://www.writersmuseum.com/museum.asp

Then we took the bus back down and across the river to Trinity College, where the “Book of Kells” is kept on display. We paid a pretty hefty entrance fee, but figured it was worth it since this was probably the only opportunity we would ever have to see the book up close. Apparently we picked a bad day/time to visit the exhibit, because it was packed with other tourists, every one of which wanted to stand around the glass case that housed the book, along with three other manuscripts, and remain there as long as possible. I don’t blame them for wanting to get a closer long look at these items, but the exhibit case was not that big and there were a lot of people waiting for their turn. I made my way into the crowd to get a peek at these amazingly beautiful and ornately detailed manuscripts, then I went up the stairs to the Long Room, which is the main part of the old Trinity College Library. The old library is beautiful, with two stories of book cases full of old leather-bound books, and the main walk lined by marble busts of Ireland’s famous writers (one of such was Jonathan Swift), artists, musicians, politicians, etc. There is also a case with the oldest surviving harp in Ireland in it, from the 15th century. Apparently this is the harp that is represented on Irish coin money.

For more on the Book of Kells, please see: http://www.tcd.ie/Library/heritage/kells.php
For more on the Long Room, please see: http://www.tcd.ie/Library/heritage/longroom.php