Right in the heart of downtown Dublin is Trinity College, where you can find the Long Room and the Book Of Kells. Wandering onto the gorgeous Trinity College campus, I instantly fell in love with the beautiful architecture surrounding the campus. Upon arriving at Trinity College front gate I proceed to buy my ticket for The Books of Kells and the campus.
Trinity College
While it is possible to visit Trinity College without paying for the tour, access to the Book Kells requires a ticket and the addition of the walking tour was only a few Euros more. The tour took us around Parliament Square which you see when you first enter with the chapel and public theater across from each other, then to the Library Square before walking us to the massive line to see the Book of Kells which is under the Long Room. I found the tour to be highly entertaining as we got to learn about all the famous people who attending the college including Oscar Wild.
The Long Room & The Book Of Kells
The Book of Kells is an illuminate medieval manuscript that contains the four Gospels of the New Testament that was created in 800 AD and is considered one of Ireland’s national treasures. When visiting be prepared to wait to enter, when I visited the wait was 45 minutes.
Before you visit the Book of Kells you will walk through the famous Long Room which Star Wars Episode II Jedi archives were modeled to look like. The library is absolutely stunning, housing 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books the room made an avid reader such as myself want to grab a book and spend the entire afternoon reading.
Unfortunately, I’m unable to share any photos of the Book of Kells themselves as no photographs are allowed in the whole of Book of Kells exhibit. After leaving the library there is a small exhibit explaining the history and various symbols found in the Book of Kells, then you can enter another room which houses the book. After that, you move on to the gift shop and can proceed to wander around the campus if you wish.
