The Old Library at Trinity College: Home To The Book Of Kells The Old Library at Trinity College: Home To The Book Of Kells by Kerry & Oisin 31 months ago College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland Tags Photograph courtesy of Fáilte Ireland and its image contributors Photograph courtesy of Fáilte Ireland and its image contributors One of Ireland's most precious treasures, The Book of Kells, is housed in the Old Library of Trinity College in central Dublin. Celebrated for its ornate decoration, expertly crafted on treated sheets of calfskin, known as vellum, the collection dates from as early as the 8th century AD, consisting of four Gospels written in Latin in a form of medieval script called insular majuscule. The book is said to have been created by a group of Columban monks, who fled to Kells in County Meath, after their original monastery on the Scottish island of Iona was attacked by Vikings at around the turn of the 9th century. Their invaluable calligraphic collection was first put on display at Trinity, roughly midway through the 19th century. Since then its popularity has grown enormously, attracting over half-a-million visitors each year at present.

Handy Hints: 1) Nothing can match viewing the orthographic masterpiece of ancient Ireland in person, while on a visit to Dublin's most prestigious college. However, if you are unable to make the trip during your stay, you can always avail of the next best thing and view some digital scans of pages from the Book of Kells, by clicking here . 2) For those that do make the trip in person, you can expect to queue for tickets on arrival. Thankfully waiting times are kept to a minimum though, you rarely have to queue for more than 10 minutes, even during busy periods. 3) Allow yourself at least 40 minutes to an hour, in order to complete the self-guided tour, which encompasses the main exhibition - 'Turning Darkness into Light' - along with The Book of Kells, and Long Room (featuring 200,000 ancient books and temporary exhibitions).

4) Don't neglect the other treasures in the Long Room either, such as one of the few remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which was read aloud by Patrick Pearse outside the General Post Office, on April 24 1916, at the start of the Easter Rising. The Celtic harp from the 15th century is the oldest example of its kind in Ireland. Crafted from willow and oak, and fitted with 29 glowing brass strings, this is a real-life model of the national emblem of Ireland. Opening hours: The Old Library and Book of Kells Exhibition opens Monday to Saturday between 09:30 and 17:00; Sunday (May to September) between 09:30 and 16:30; Sunday (October to April) between 12:00 and 16:30.

Price of admission: The Book of Kells & Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Ireland's most famous university is home to the world's most famous medieval illuminated manuscript: the Book of Kells A detail from the Book of Kells at Trinity College (Folio 292r, Incipit to John, In principio erat verbum) In the middle of Dublin city is an oasis of peace, green, 18th- and 19th-century buildings, and students scurrying with their books. A bit of Trinity College history The Campanile seperating paved Parliament Square from grassy Library Square at the entrence to Trinity College, Dublin. Queen Elizabeth I founded Trinity College in 1592 to enlighten and educate the Irish—or, as the English monarch herself put it rather more blunty, to "reform...the barbarism of this rude people." Trinity, in the end, turned out to be more enlightened than its English counterparts at Cambridge and Oxford, being the first of the three to admit women (in 1903).

Among Trinity's 92,000+ alumni are counted such illustrious graduates as Jonathan Swift, Thomas Moore, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and Samuel Beckett—so you never know who that undergrad giving you the €5 tour might grow up to be. (You can tell he’s an undergrad because his knee-length robe lacks the sleeves that are accorded only to grad students, so it’s more of a cape-vest.) The modern Trinity College Dubin matriculates around 16,800 students each year, and is currently ranked 61 in the Top 100 colleges in the world by the QS World University Rankings. Incidentally, among the other benefits accrued to those lucky few Trinity collegians who achieve the top mark on the rigorous, voluntary Foundation Scholar exam—including free room and board for 15 terms (that’s five full years), a stipend, and the right to append “Sch.” to their names—is the right to unlimited half-pints of Guinness at meals. Sweet deal—though there are only 70 Scholars at a time. Trinity College tours A tour of Trinity College with a student.

The entertaining student-led tours provide plenty of fun anecdotes about the university's history, student life across the eras, and odd traditions, along with a bit of commentary on the architecture (and the juxtaposition of venerable older buildings with varyingly successful forays into modernist architecture). These tours end at (but do not enter) the most famous and popular bit of Trinity, the Old Library and its exhibiton on the Book of Kells. Trinity's Old Library & the Book of Kells A page from the Book of Kells (Christ Enthroned, Folio Most visitors head straight for the Old Library, built in 1712, where there is a fine display on the medieval art of manuscript illumination—a craft at which the Irish excelled. The library is home to a precious trinity of illuminated manuscripts: The 7th century Book of Durrow, the 8th century Book of Armagh, and Ireland's most richly decorated treasure, the 9th-century Book of Kells. Stolen from its monastery in 1007 by Viking raiders, the Book of Kells was miraculously recovered from a bog three months later.

Its gold-rich cover was missing, but the experience did little harm to the vibrant colors and remarkable detail in what is perhaps the most beautiful, important, and cherished illuminated manuscript in the world. A detail from the famous Chi Rho page of the Book of Kells (Folio 34 recto) The Book of Kells is actually four books (one for each Gospel), and two are on display at any given time, one turned to an illuminated page, the other to a page of text. The interpretive museum you file through before arriving at the chamber housing the trio of illuminated manuscripts fills you on the art of illuniation and the history of the Book of Kells and other old books in the library's collection. The museum also cleverly uses projectors to turn the first wall on your right as you enter into a daily changing exhibit on whatever page the Book of Kells happens to be open to that day, detailing the drawing that is on display and explaining some of its iconography.

The story of the Book of Kells Somewhere around the year AD 800, a collection of Irish Columban monks were laboring over 340 folios of fine, calf-skin vellum in the scriptorium of their monastery on the windswept island of Iona just north of Ireland, off the coast of Scotland’s Isle of Mull. They were faithfully copying out the Vulgate Latin text of the Four Gospels in iron gall ink, the lasting acidic tint favored by everyone from Pliny the Elder, penning his eyewitness account of the destruction of Pompeii, to scribe Timothy Matlack in 1776 setting to parchment the words of Thomas Jefferson, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...” But the Iona monks didn’t just work in ink.

Like other Anglo-Celtic monks of the period, they also mixed pigments—the reds and yellows of crushed ochre, the deep purples of the indigo plant, green verdigris from copper, intense ultramarine from lapis lazuli—to surrounded these sacred words with a colorful riot of impossibly delicate illustration, mixing early Christian iconography with Celtic motifs and patterns, portraits of saints with depictions of mythological monsters. But real monsters were at the door: Viking raiders. The Vikings began their ambitious campaign of sacking, pillaging, and eventually settling the lands surrounding the North Sea (as well as Russia, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland—which today we call Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada) with the British Isles. The first Viking raid was on the island monastery of Lindisfarne off the northeast coast of England—the only real rival to Iona for the painterly skills of its monks. It was an ideal score: Plenty of gold and silver reliquaries and other church riches guarded only by a bunch of scholarly monks.

(Thankfully, the Vikings didn’t bother with Lindisfarne’s illuminated manuscripts, which are now at the British Library.) They casually slaughtered many of the brothers, carried other off as slaves, and started plotting their next raid. Within a year, in 794, they hit Iona for the first time, giving those monks the same Lindisfarne treatment. The remaining brothers, shaken, carried on with their devotions and their work, perhaps even redoubling their efforts at their collective masterpiece in the scriptorium. But in 806, a particularly brutal Viking raid left 68 of the monks dead, and most of the survivors dispersed. Some fled south to a brother monastery in the Kingdom of Meath in Ireland called Kells, bringing the Book with them and continuing their laborious illustrations. By no means did this keep the monks—or their Book—safe. Vikings raided inland as well, hitting Kells numerous times throughout the tenth century. Nor was the Book safe from local thieves.

In fact, the earliest direct reference to the Book comes from 1007 in the Annals of Ulster—which is notable in of itself, as about 99% of the entries in these records consist only of brief notations about battles or the deaths of kings, chiefs, abbots, and other notables—in which it was recorded that the Book—which it calls “...the most precious object of the western world on account of the human ornamentation...“—was “...wickedly stolen by night from the western sacristy…” Luckily, it appears the thieves were only after the same kind of worldly wealth as Vikings. Two months and twenty days later, the book—minus its gold-bedecked cover—was recovered from “under a sod.” But somehow, the Book of Kells survived. Because it’s Irish. The Irish are survivors.

The Long Room The Long Room in the Old Library at Trinity College, Dublin Upstairs from the chamber with the Book of Kells is the Old Library's bust-lined Long Room, the aptly-named main stacks of the original library, a 65-meter (213-foot) built in 1712–32 (the second level was added in 1860) and housing 200,000 books alongside busts of famous writers, philosophers, and others associated with Trinity. Ancient, leather-bound tomes are arranged according to an idiosyncratic, pre-Dewey Decimal filing system in tall nooks on either side of a two-story hall, reached by rickety wooden ladders on runners. (If it all looks vaguely familiar, this may be because George Lucas copied the look for the Jedi Library in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones.) The Old Library is, ironically, on one of the modern modern quads at Trinity College.Down the center of the hall are display cases showcasing some of the library's collections, usually along some theme (on my last visit, I got to see old medical texts and instruments—as fascinating as they were gruesome).

Also on display here is the harp of Brian Ború, more than 600 years old and one of only three wooden Gaelic harps in existence. Legend holds it to be the one played during Brian Ború's Battle of Clontarf—though that happend in 1014, and the harp likely only dates to the late Middle Ages. Its profile is familiar to anyone who has seen the official state heraldry of Ireland, the backs of their Euro coins, or a pint of Guinness. Fellows Square and the Berkley Library Incidentally, the Trinity library actually has many branches and buildings. The largest section, is housed, in part, on the college’s Fellows Square, where only university fellows are allowed to walk on—and, according to the school charter, graze their sheep on—the grass.

This bit of the library—in a neo-Brutalist monstrosity the students have dubbed “The Photocopier”—is named for the early 18th century Anglo-Irish philosopher and Trinity grad George Berkeley (pronounced "Barclay" in Irish), who had also lived in Newport, RI, for a spell, where you can visit his Whitehall mansion, and ended up the namesake for a college at the University of California—though we Yanks mangled the pronunciation of his name and rendered it phonetically as “Berkeley.” Tips Planning your time at Trinity College: Give the Old Library and the Book of Kells at least 30 minutes—but budget another 15–20 minutes for standing in line to get tickets. When it's crowded, guards move visitors through the book chamber every two minutes, so you might only get the briefest glimpse. Solution: Arrive when it opens, dash through to see the Book, then backtrack to tour the museum bit before heading upstairs to the Long Hall.

Student-led campus tours take 30 minutes—and get you a ticket to see the Book that lets you bypass the ticketing desk and long line (though you'd still have to wait in that line if you want to rent an audio guide to the Book of Kells exhibit). Student-led tours of Trinity College: Take one of the 30-minute, highly informative and fun student-led tours of campus that leave from the Front Arch of the college (just inside the College Green entrance). They cost €5 (or €10 to get a Book of Kells entry as well) and leave at 10:15am, 10:40am, 11:05am, 11:35am, 12:10pm, 2:15pm, 3pm, amd 3:40pm (no 3:40pm tour on Sundays). Tours run mid-May through September (as well as on some weekends during term). Hint: Most people believe the early bird gets the worm and therefore arrive for the first tour of the day—but in this case the early bird only gets a huge crowd of 70 to 120 people.

Show up for the second tour at 10:40am (or any later tour) and the crowds are 1/5 that size or less. Commercial tours that visit Trinity College: Take a tour that includes a stop at Trinity College with our partners at Viator.com : Let there be light Let there be light The enduring fascination of Ireland’s monastic masterpiece, the Book of Kells Topics mentioned in this article The Book of Kells, by Bernard Meehan, Thames & Hudson, RRP£60, 256 pages Folio34r: Face of Christ at the top. The story of the Book of Kells, of the mystery surrounding its provenance and the anonymity of the master scribes and artists who executed it, is a splendid romance. Few emblems of medieval European civilisation have caught the imagination of the international public to the same degree. Every year tens of thousands of visitors to Dublin file through the Long Room of Trinity College to view its intricately decorated pages.

The artistry, colour, exuberance and wit that went into the making of this illuminated version of the four Gospels, described in the 11th-century Annals of Ulster as “primh-mind iarthair domain”, “the most precious object of the western world”, are an enduring source of awe and admiration. Here is a spark of brilliant light shining for us out of the Dark Ages. The “Book of Kells” is probably a misnomer. Certainly the book was kept at Kells, a pleasant town in County Meath some 40 miles northwest of Dublin, from the beginning of the 11th century until it was sent to Dublin in the early 1650s for safe-keeping. It is not known for sure, however, where it originated. The best scholarly guess is that it was composed, or at least that its composition was begun, by Columban monks on the small, fertile island of Iona, off Mull on the west coast of Scotland, around the year 800. The book, or codex, the more precise term for a manuscript volume, was from the start closely linked with the name of Columcille.

The Annals of Ulster, for instance, refer to it specifically as “the great Gospel of Colum Cille”. This saint – Columcille translates as the “Dove of the Church” – is a potent figure in medieval Insular history, that is, the history of Ireland and Britain. He is Christian Ireland’s St George, but without the great-sword, and the pious counterpart, for generations of Irish schoolchildren, of the legendary warrior-hero Cuchulainn. Columcille, or Columba, as he was known to the Latin-speaking world, was born in 521 or 522 into the aristocratic family of the O’Neills of Tír Connaill, roughly present-day Donegal. At the beginning of the 560s he travelled with 12 companions, in echo of Christ and his apostles, on a mission to Scotland to convert the Picts. In 563 he settled on Iona and founded a settlement there, which was to endure for centuries.

Members of the community would go on to set up other monastic houses, including one on the great rock of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, established by the Ionan monk Aidan in 635. At the close of the 8th century the tranquil life of Iona was violently disrupted by the arrival of the Viking longships. Raids were recorded in 795; in 802, when the settlement was “burned by the heathens”, as the Ulster annalists put it; and in 806, when 68 inhabitants were slaughtered. The following year a part of the monastic community transferred to Kells, where there was a royal hill-fort owned by the southern branch of Columcille’s family. The annals speak of Kells at this time as the “noue ciuitatis” of the Columban monks. The word “ciuitatis” means place of refuge, the circumference of which, according to one historical source, could be measured by an angel with a reed in his hand – it must have been a small fort indeed – which possibly accounts for the depiction in the Book of Kells of a number of angels holding what are probably reeds.

This last is one of many fascinating conjectures put forward by Bernard Meehan in The Book of Kells, a sumptuous – it is the only word for it – volume containing more than 80 pages from the manuscript reproduced full-size and in full, ravishing colour, as well as five comprehensive chapters on the historical background, the elements of the book, the manner of decoration, the work of the scribes and artists involved, and the physical features of the book. Meehan, head of research collections and keeper of manuscripts at Trinity College, is surely the world’s foremost contemporary authority on the Book of Kells, which he has lived with and worked on throughout his professional career. His new book is a triumph of scholarly investigation and interpretation. Although he maintains an appropriately sober tone throughout, it is clear that he finds this marvellous artefact – indeed, this work of art – as fascinating and compellingly mysterious today as he did when he first set himself to unravelling its secrets some 30 years ago. One of the endearing features of this version of the Gospels is that it is not particularly accurate.

“While the scripts of the Book of Kells have a unique verve and beauty,” Meehan writes, “its text is erratic, with many errors resulting from eyeskip (where the scribe’s eye has jumped from a word to its next appearance, omitting the intervening text or letter).” This calls down a rare but stern professorial rebuke: “There is considerable carelessness in transcription.” Reading this, one’s deplorably feckless imagination wanders back through the smoke of the centuries to that frail little isle afloat in the wild Atlantic, where in a stone beehive hut a lonely scribe, hunched with quill in hand over his sheet of vellum, halts suddenly as he spots a mistranscription, claps a hand to his brow and utters whatever might have been the monastic equivalent of “Oh, shit!” Folio 200r, written by Scribe C. Those poor scribes – there were four of them, “prosaically termed A, B, C and D”, as Meehan sympathetically remarks – had their work cut out for them.

The Book of Kells was made from 180 calf skins – an indication, by the way, of the comparative wealth of the monastic community, for in those days cows were money – and of the complete work, 680 pages remain, some folios as well as the original binding having been lost or destroyed. The scribes, employing broad quill pens held at right angles to the page, wrote with surprising speed, at an estimated rate of about 180 words per hour; the illustrator-artists, of course, would have worked much more slowly. An elegant playfulness is evident throughout, with contingencies often being turned into occasions of bravura inventiveness. Meehan points out that to achieve an evenly justified right-hand margin, sometimes the final letter or letters of a word had to be inscribed below the remainder, and offers the example from the bottom of the verso of folio 276, where the final t of the word dixit is placed below the rest of the word, forming a flamboyant cross with the second stroke of the x. Elsewhere, too, necessity offered opportunity.

The major illustrated pages would have taken very much longer to execute than script pages, and in order not to delay the process of transcription, the reverse sides would have been left blank to be filled in later with text. “Having to guess how much space to leave on these occasions,” Meehan writes, “the scribes normally erred on the conservative side, knowing that space could be filled with decoration if necessary.” Send in the artists. Folio 63r: Fly decorates the text where Beelzebub, ‘Lord of the flies’, is mentioned. The Irish have a weakness for puns, and this is as evident in the Book of Kells as it is in Finnegans Wake, although in the former the puns are for the most part visual, for no monk would think to tamper with the Gospel texts. A delightful example of visual punning occurs on the recto of folio 63.

Meehan cites another scholar, George Henderson, identifying an insect on this page as a fly, “consistent with its place in the text, at Matthew 12.24, where the Pharisees say, ‘This man casteth not out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils’, for the name ‘Beelzebub’ is glossed in the list of Hebrew names in the Book of Kells as meaning ‘having flies’ or ‘Lord of flies’.” Folio 180r: Text referring to St Peter features the body of a hare, symbolic of timidity. Matters of doctrinal dispute, too, give rise to the occasional sly squib. The early Irish Church had its differences with Rome, for example on the thorny question of the dating of Easter, which led to a “great dispute” and a resulting Irish hostility towards St Peter, the founder of the Roman Church.

According to the Venerable Bede, the Columbans had been persuaded in the early 700s to adopt the Roman method for fixing the date for Easter, but as Meehan points out, evidence in the Book of Kells points to a lingering resentment among the scribes and artists of Iona. Thus on the recto of folio 180, a line of text referring to Peter’s denial of Christ incorporates the figure of a hare, an animal known for its timidity. Folio 87v: A hare gazes at text about St. Peter. An even more ingenious leporine dig is spotted by Meehan, with equal ingenuity, on the verso of folio 87. “The hare here, forming the S of Simile, gazes back overleaf to folio 87r, where Peter expresses doubt about following Jesus. It is precisely on the other side of the leaf from the pet of petrus, suggesting a deliberate association, to Peter’s disadvantage, between the words petrus and Simile and the animal, Peter being ‘like to’ a hare.” We should look with indulgence upon these harmless sallies.

After all, as James Joyce pointed out, the Church of Rome was built on a pun, when Christ chose Peter (Petrus) as the rock (petra) of its foundation. The Book of Kells is endlessly fascinating, boundlessly inspiring. “For many in Ireland,” Meehan remarks, “it symbolizes the power of learning, the impact of Christianity on the life of the country, and the spirit of artistic imagination.” So it is for many in the world at large, also. You do not have to be a Christian to appreciate the book’s beauty and power, expressing as it does our love of the natural world and at the same time the pathos of our yearning towards transcendence. In the beginning was the word, declares the Gospel of St John, and thereafter, we might add, came the transcribers of that word. John Banville’s latest novel is ‘Ancient Light’ (Viking) Sample the FT’s top stories for a week You select the topic, we deliver the news. Select topic BBC - Culture - The Book of Kells: Medieval Europe’s greatest treasure? History The Book of Kells: Medieval Europe’s greatest treasure?

Monks created an illuminated Bible of astonishing beauty sometime between the 6th and 8th centuries. It’s one of the most cherished masterpieces in Ireland, writes Martha Kearney. By Martha Kearney Share by Email One summer a few years ago I stayed in student rooms in Trinity College. Although the accommodation was rather spartan with the traditional blue tack scars on the walls, it was so atmospheric to be able to wander around the old buildings of the Dublin university long after all the tourists had gone. Best of all was the chance to visit the Book of Kells as many times as I wanted. (The Library displays a different page each day.) These illuminated manuscripts are one of the wonders of medieval Europe. Imagine the monks in their stone huts, battered by sea winds, bent over their painstaking work Strictly speaking, rather than The Book of Kells, named after a town in County Meath, it should be called the Book of Iona, as it's thought that it was monks on that remote Scottish island who were the original artists. They were inhabitants of a monastery founded there in the 6th Century by the Irish monk Columba, or Colm Cille as he's known in Irish.

In fact, for many centuries the manuscript was believed to be the great Gospel of Columba. But scholars now place the book in a later period and think it was completed by 800 AD. I find it extraordinary that in such a wild place with limited materials that these men were able to create a work of art that is so delicate and ornate. You can imagine the monks inside their beehive-shaped stone huts, battered by sea winds with squawking gulls outside, bent over their painstaking work. I've visited another early settlement on Skellig Michael off the coast of Kerry in the Atlantic and it is hard to express how bleak and remote those lives were. View image of The library at Trinity College, Dublin (Credit: Credit: Alamy) But it wasn't just forces of nature with which the monks had to contend. The monastery, like many early Christian communities, came under the threat of Viking raids. In 806, following a raid that left 68 of the community dead, the Columban monks took refuge in a newly-founded monastery at Kells in County Meath in Ireland to keep them safe. The most likely theory is that the monks took the manuscript with them.

Amazingly since they were written, the majority of the pages have been passed down through the generations with just 60 pages missing. But medieval sources do record that an illuminated manuscript was stolen from the stone church of Kells in 1006 which is likely to have been the Book of Kells. According to the Annals of Ulster it was found “two months and twenty days” later “under a sod.” After fighting in the Cromwellian period, the church at Kells lay in ruins, and in 1653 the book was sent to Dublin by the governor of Kells for safekeeping. A few years later it reached Trinity College where it remains today. Light of the dark ages The scale and ambition of The Book of Kells is incredible. Written on vellum, it is estimated that the skins of 185 calves were needed for the project. Practically all of the 680 pages are decorated in some way or another. On some pages every corner is filled with the most detailed and beautiful Celtic designs.

This is a description thought by many to be of the Book of Kells by the 12th Century writer Gerald of Wales: You might say that all this were the work of an angel, and not of a man – Gerald of Wales "This book contains the harmony of the Four Evangelists according to Jerome, where for almost every page there are different designs, distinguished by varied colours. Here you may see the face of majesty, divinely drawn, here the mystic symbols of the Evangelists, each with wings, now six, now four, now two; here the eagle, there the calf, here the man and there the lion, and other forms almost infinite. Look at them superficially with the ordinary glance, and you would think it is an erasure, and not tracery. Fine craftsmanship is all about you, but you might not notice it. Look more keenly at it and you will penetrate to the very shrine of art.

You will make out intricacies, so delicate and so subtle, so full of knots and links, with colours so fresh and vivid, that you might say that all this were the work of an angel, and not of a man." View image of The most famous page is known as Chi Rho (Credit: Credit: The Book of Kells) Glory of glories The most famous page is known as Chi Rho, which are the first letters of the word Christ in Ancient Greek. The letters themselves are the centrepiece of the folio. The page is covered in a swirling, almost psychedelic design, with extremely elaborate patterns in minute detail. You can stare at this for ages and find new flourishes, tracery and spirals. Some have even described this as an artistic form of doodling, as one line leads to another, weaving backwards and forwards on itself. Every space is filled. In one corner there is an otter killing a fish. Some suggest that this is religious iconography, symbolic of the death of Christ. But of course it would also be a scene that the monks could have observed in their Scottish wilderness.

Lions represent both figures, Judas on the left aggressively biting the more passive figure of Jesus – Bernard Meehan There are many images of animals throughout the Book of Kells, from exotic peacocks, lions and snakes to more domestic cats, hares and goats. There has been much research into their significance. Some like the goats were presumably part of everyday life but others could have been pagan symbols carried over into the Christian era. The figures often add drama to the gospel stories. For instance if you look at the page in the Gospel of St Matthew that depicts the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, you can see two lions. According to Bernard Meehan who has studied the illustrations, "Lions represent both figures, Judas on the left aggressively biting the more passive figure of Jesus." To us that's almost hidden in the text, but it would have been far more obvious to people at the time. View image of The remote Scottish island of Iona (Credit: Credit: Alamy) The Book of Kells isn’t the only illuminated manuscript in the so-called insular style.

Monks from the original monastery founded by St Columba also set up other monastic communities including one on the great rock of Lindisfarne in Northumberland, established by the Ionan monk Aidan in 635. There monks created the lovely Lindisfarne Gospel but the Irish would claim the Book of Kells is the finest of its kind. The 11th Century Annals of Ulster describe the Book of Kells as “primh-mind iarthair domain”, “the most precious object of the Western world”. One of the experts on the manuscript Bernard Meehan writes "For many in Ireland it symbolises the power of learning, the impact of Christianity on the life of the country, and the spirit of artistic imagination.” That's true for the tens of thousands of visitors who pay homage to the manuscript each year and it’s even captured the imagination of filmmakers. The Secret of Kells, an animated feature about a young boy’s passion for the manuscript was nominated for an Oscar. View image of Tens of thousands of visitors to Trinity College, Dublin pay homage (Credit: Credit: The Book of Kells) So why did the monks go to so much trouble to create these amazing pages?

It's as if the book itself flaunted the spiritual qualities of the text to those who saw it. The large pages and illustrations could be seen from further back in the church to make an impact on a congregation that for the most part couldn't read or write. Recent research has shown that books were used in religious processions, enhancing the notion that they were almost objects of worship themselves or at least had talismanic properties for a medieval populace. There won't be many modern visitors who will be convinced of that but take a look at the images yourself and you will be transported into a magical world of awe-inspiring skill. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter . If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter , called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, Travel and Autos, delivered to your inbox every Friday. 9 Day Affordable Ireland | Virgin Vacations - Vacation Packages to London, Paris, Italy & More! 9 Day Affordable Ireland Round trip flights New York-Dublin, Dublin-New York Other departure cities available.

Click on date of departure for selection and prices Airline taxes & fuel surcharges 10 meals: 7 breakfasts, 3 dinners Sightseeing per itinerary in modern air-conditioned motor coach Services of English-speaking tour manager throughout Special Features View the magnificent 8th century Book of Kells at Trinity College Enjoy dinner in a typical tavern, with traditional Irish music, dancing and great Irish food Visit the House of Waterford Crystal showroom Travel along the world-famous Ring of Kerry with its astonishing views View the mighty Cliffs of Moher, a rock wall rising 700 feet above the ocean Visit Bunratty Castle, the most authentic medieval fortress in Ireland Walk through the delightful Folk Park dedicated to Irish life in the 19th century × Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, Dublin Monday Departure The Camden Court Hotel, Dublin Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane, Dublin Mespil Hotel, Dublin No prices for this month. Please try a different month. Sun No prices for this month. Please try a different month. Sun No prices for this month. Please try a different month. No departure dates available for this selection. Next Season Dates Available Is This Trip Right for You? This fast-paced trip covers a good amount of ground each day.

We can spend 2-3 hours on our feet during tours where you will encounter some uneven surfaces, stairs, steps and significant slopes. This tour is not recommended for people who have difficulty walking. *Not Included: Land only price does not include arrival/departure transfers. Accommodation Details: Nov 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Mar 1, 8, 15, & 22 departures will be accommodated at the Dooley’s Hotel in Kilkenny. Nov 5, 19, 26, Feb 25, Mar 4, & 18 departures will be accommodated at the Jury’s Inn Parnell in Dublin. Mar 17 departure will be accommodated at the Clayton Hotel Cardiff Lane in Dublin on day 8. Mar 27 departure will be accommodated at the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin, the Dooley's Hotel in Kilkenny, and the Killarney Towers Hotel in Killarney.

Mar 29 departure will be accommodated at the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin, the Granville Hotel in Kilkenny, the Randles Hotel in Killarney, and the Connacht Hotel in Galway. Mar 31 departure will be accommodated at the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin, the Randles Hotel in Killarney, and the Connacht Hotel in Galway. Apr 1 departure will be accommodated at the Ballsbridge Hotel in Dublin, the Dooley's Hotel in Kilkenny, the Randles Hotel in Killarney, and the Connacht Hotel in Galway. Entry Requirements: Passengers traveling abroad require a passport valid for six months beyond their travel dates. All travelers are responsible to check if a visa is required for all countries on their itinerary. For visa information, check our Visas page. Booking Details Requests are not guaranteed and are subject to each hotel's discretion and availability Book online or Mon-Fri 9am-9pm EST | Sat 10am-5pm EST | Sun 10am-4pm EST Book Online DAY 1, Monday - Depart for Ireland* Depart for Ireland DAY 2, Tuesday - Arrive in Dublin Arrive in Dublin, the energetic capital of Ireland.

Rest of the day is at leisure to relax or explore this friendly city on your own. Tonight, a Welcome Drink with your fellow travelers and Tour Manager Overnight: Dublin DAY 3, Wednesday - Dublin City Tour The exploration of Dublin, immortalized by James Joyce, begins with a panoramic drive through statue-lined O'Connell Street and past Phoenix Park, the largest enclosed city park in Europe, home to the official residence of the President. Continue to view St. Patrick's Cathedral, the largest church in Ireland, dedicated to Ireland's patron saint. Next, on to Oscar Wilde's Trinity College where you see the magnificent 8th century Book of Kells, a superb example of early Irish manuscript illumination on display in the Old Library. This afternoon at leisure, to visit Oscar Wilde's childhood home and the St. James's Gate Brewery. Perhaps take in the Guinness Storehouse, one of Ireland’s leading attractions. This evening, enjoy typical Irish entertainment at a festive Welcome Dinner in a traditional tavern Overnight: Dublin Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 4, Thursday - Travel to Kilkenny Departing Dublin, travel through scenic County Wicklow past the Blessington Lakes on your way to Kilkenny, located on the banks of the River Nore.

Enjoy a guided tour of the city, with views of the majestic 12th century castle and the splendid medieval cathedral. Spend the balance of the afternoon at leisure. Later tonight, enjoy dinner together at the hotel Overnight: Kilkenny Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 5, Friday - Waterford, Blarney Castle en Route to Killarney Today, on to Waterford, known as Ireland's oldest city, a place that can trace its beginnings back to the arrival of the Vikings. Enjoy a walking tour of the city of Waterford with its world-renowned crystal showroom. Then, drive through the scenic south of Ireland into enchanting County Cork for a visit to storied 15th century Blarney Castle, where you'll have an opportunity to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone, promising you the "gift of gab". Free time for shopping for traditional Irish crafts at the Blarney Woollen Mills before driving to Killarney, in County Kerry, with its soaring mountain ranges, beautiful valleys, crystal lakes and spectacular rugged coastline on the Atlantic Ocean.

This evening, enjoy dinner at the hotel Overnight: Killarney Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 6, Saturday - Killarney National Park, Ring of Kerry A breathtaking day of magnificent vistas as you drive through Killarney National Park and the world-famous "Ring of Kerry" around the island's southwestern tip. Keep your cameras ready for the sparkling seascapes, mountains dotted with brightly colored farmhouses, the remote villages of Cahirciveen and Sneem, winding lanes bordered with subtropical vegetation, and the breathtaking panorama of the Lakes of Killarney. Later, join the optional ride in a Jaunting Car (pony & open carriage) in the peaceful green countryside. Return to Killarney in the late afternoon Optional: Jaunting Cars (PM) Meals: Breakfast DAY 7, Sunday - Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park, Cliffs of Moher Travel north through the picturesque village of Adare, with its pastel-hued storefronts and thatched roof houses, known as the "prettiest village" in Ireland. Visit Bunratty Castle, the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland restored to its former splendor with original furnishings, tapestries and works of art.

On to the delightful Folk Park, dedicated to life in Ireland during the 19th century. Experience the sights and sounds of this enchanting place as you stroll from house to house or around the charming village street complete with school, post office, doctor’s house, hardware shop, and, of course, McNamara's pub! Later, view some of Ireland's most spectacular scenery as you drive to the mighty Cliffs of Moher, a wall of rock that rises some 700 feet above the ocean. Continue north through the desolate limestone plateau known as The Burren to lively Galway for overnight, once a seafaring town steeped in tradition, and now one of the fastest growing cities in Europe Overnight: Galway Meals: Breakfast DAY 8, Monday - Galway City Tour, Return to Dublin Begin the day with a relaxed morning in Galway where you might shop for souvenirs or take a stroll around Eyre Square. Later, enjoy a tour of the colorful town, including a stop at the grand Galway Cathedral on the banks of the River Corrib. Then, continue on your drive back to Dublin.

Tonight, perhaps a stroll through the Temple Bar area or watch the street performers and musicians along the banks of the River Liffey and cross the Ha’penny Bridge. It’s your last night on the Emerald Isle! Overnight: Dublin Meals: Breakfast DAY 9, Tuesday - Depart Ireland Bid a fond farewell to Ireland. After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your departure flight Meals: Breakfast Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 4, Saturday - Travel to Kilkenny Departing Dublin, travel through scenic County Wicklow past the Blessington Lakes on your way to Kilkenny, located on the banks of the River Nore. Enjoy a guided tour of the city, with views of the majestic 12th century castle and the splendid medieval cathedral. Spend the balance of the afternoon at leisure. Later tonight, enjoy dinner together at the hotel Overnight: Kilkenny Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 5, Sunday - Waterford, Blarney Castle en Route to Killarney Today, on to Waterford, known as Ireland's oldest city, a place that can trace its beginnings back to the arrival of the Vikings. Enjoy a walking tour of the city of Waterford with its world-renowned crystal showroom.

Then, drive through the scenic south of Ireland into enchanting County Cork for a visit to storied 15th century Blarney Castle, where you'll have an opportunity to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone, promising you the "gift of gab". Free time for shopping for traditional Irish crafts at the Blarney Woollen Mills before driving to Killarney, in County Kerry, with its soaring mountain ranges, beautiful valleys, crystal lakes and spectacular rugged coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. This evening, enjoy dinner at the hotel Overnight: Killarney Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 6, Monday - Killarney National Park, Ring of Kerry A breathtaking day of magnificent vistas as you drive through Killarney National Park and the world-famous "Ring of Kerry" around the island's southwestern tip. Keep your cameras ready for the sparkling seascapes, mountains dotted with brightly colored farmhouses, the remote villages of Cahirciveen and Sneem, winding lanes bordered with subtropical vegetation, and the breathtaking panorama of the Lakes of Killarney. Later, join the optional ride in a Jaunting Car (pony & open carriage) in the peaceful green countryside.

Return to Killarney in the late afternoon Optional: Jaunting Cars (PM) Meals: Breakfast DAY 7, Tuesday - Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park, Cliffs of Moher Travel north through the picturesque village of Adare, with its pastel-hued storefronts and thatched roof houses, known as the "prettiest village" in Ireland. Visit Bunratty Castle, the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland restored to its former splendor with original furnishings, tapestries and works of art. On to the delightful Folk Park, dedicated to life in Ireland during the 19th century. Experience the sights and sounds of this enchanting place as you stroll from house to house or around the charming village street complete with school, post office, doctor’s house, hardware shop, and, of course, McNamara's pub! Later, view some of Ireland's most spectacular scenery as you drive to the mighty Cliffs of Moher, a wall of rock that rises some 700 feet above the ocean.

Continue north through the desolate limestone plateau known as The Burren to lively Galway for overnight, once a seafaring town steeped in tradition, and now one of the fastest growing cities in Europe Overnight: Galway Meals: Breakfast DAY 8, Wednesday - Galway City Tour, Return to Dublin Begin the day with a relaxed morning in Galway where you might shop for souvenirs or take a stroll around Eyre Square. Later, enjoy a tour of the colorful town, including a stop at the grand Galway Cathedral on the banks of the River Corrib. Then, continue on your drive back to Dublin. Tonight, perhaps a stroll through the Temple Bar area or watch the street performers and musicians along the banks of the River Liffey and cross the Ha’penny Bridge. It’s your last night on the Emerald Isle! Overnight: Dublin Meals: Breakfast DAY 9, Thursday - Depart Ireland Bid a fond farewell to Ireland.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your departure flight Meals: Breakfast Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 4, Monday - Travel to Kilkenny Departing Dublin, travel through scenic County Wicklow past the Blessington Lakes on your way to Kilkenny, located on the banks of the River Nore. Enjoy a guided tour of the city, with views of the majestic 12th century castle and the splendid medieval cathedral. Spend the balance of the afternoon at leisure. Later tonight, enjoy dinner together at the hotel Overnight: Kilkenny Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 5, Tuesday - Waterford, Blarney Castle en Route to Killarney Today, on to Waterford, known as Ireland's oldest city, a place that can trace its beginnings back to the arrival of the Vikings. Enjoy a walking tour of the city of Waterford with its world-renowned crystal showroom. Then, drive through the scenic south of Ireland into enchanting County Cork for a visit to storied 15th century Blarney Castle, where you'll have an opportunity to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone, promising you the "gift of gab".

Free time for shopping for traditional Irish crafts at the Blarney Woollen Mills before driving to Killarney, in County Kerry, with its soaring mountain ranges, beautiful valleys, crystal lakes and spectacular rugged coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. This evening, enjoy dinner at the hotel Overnight: Killarney Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 6, Wednesday - Killarney National Park, Ring of Kerry A breathtaking day of magnificent vistas as you drive through Killarney National Park and the world-famous "Ring of Kerry" around the island's southwestern tip. Keep your cameras ready for the sparkling seascapes, mountains dotted with brightly colored farmhouses, the remote villages of Cahirciveen and Sneem, winding lanes bordered with subtropical vegetation, and the breathtaking panorama of the Lakes of Killarney. Later, join the optional ride in a Jaunting Car (pony & open carriage) in the peaceful green countryside.

Return to Killarney in the late afternoon Optional: Jaunting Cars (PM) Meals: Breakfast DAY 7, Thursday - Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park, Cliffs of Moher Travel north through the picturesque village of Adare, with its pastel-hued storefronts and thatched roof houses, known as the "prettiest village" in Ireland. Visit Bunratty Castle, the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland restored to its former splendor with original furnishings, tapestries and works of art. On to the delightful Folk Park, dedicated to life in Ireland during the 19th century. Experience the sights and sounds of this enchanting place as you stroll from house to house or around the charming village street complete with school, post office, doctor’s house, hardware shop, and, of course, McNamara's pub! Later, view some of Ireland's most spectacular scenery as you drive to the mighty Cliffs of Moher, a wall of rock that rises some 700 feet above the ocean.

Continue north through the desolate limestone plateau known as The Burren to lively Galway for overnight, once a seafaring town steeped in tradition, and now one of the fastest growing cities in Europe Overnight: Galway Meals: Breakfast DAY 8, Friday - Galway City Tour, Return to Dublin Begin the day with a relaxed morning in Galway where you might shop for souvenirs or take a stroll around Eyre Square. Later, enjoy a tour of the colorful town, including a stop at the grand Galway Cathedral on the banks of the River Corrib. Then, continue on your drive back to Dublin. Tonight, perhaps a stroll through the Temple Bar area or watch the street performers and musicians along the banks of the River Liffey and cross the Ha’penny Bridge. It’s your last night on the Emerald Isle! Overnight: Dublin Meals: Breakfast DAY 9, Saturday - Depart Ireland Bid a fond farewell to Ireland.

After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your departure flight Meals: Breakfast Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 4, Tuesday - Travel to Kilkenny Departing Dublin, travel through scenic County Wicklow past the Blessington Lakes on your way to Kilkenny, located on the banks of the River Nore. Enjoy a guided tour of the city, with views of the majestic 12th century castle and the splendid medieval cathedral. Spend the balance of the afternoon at leisure. Later tonight, enjoy dinner together at the hotel Overnight: Kilkenny Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 5, Wednesday - Waterford, Blarney Castle en Route to Killarney Today, on to Waterford, known as Ireland's oldest city, a place that can trace its beginnings back to the arrival of the Vikings. Enjoy a walking tour of the city of Waterford with its world-renowned crystal showroom. Then, drive through the scenic south of Ireland into enchanting County Cork for a visit to storied 15th century Blarney Castle, where you'll have an opportunity to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone, promising you the "gift of gab".

Free time for shopping for traditional Irish crafts at the Blarney Woollen Mills before driving to Killarney, in County Kerry, with its soaring mountain ranges, beautiful valleys, crystal lakes and spectacular rugged coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. This evening, enjoy dinner at the hotel Overnight: Killarney Meals: Breakfast, Dinner DAY 6, Thursday - Killarney National Park, Ring of Kerry A breathtaking day of magnificent vistas as you drive through Killarney National Park and the world-famous "Ring of Kerry" around the island's southwestern tip. Keep your cameras ready for the sparkling seascapes, mountains dotted with brightly colored farmhouses, the remote villages of Cahirciveen and Sneem, winding lanes bordered with subtropical vegetation, and the breathtaking panorama of the Lakes of Killarney. Later, join the optional ride in a Jaunting Car (pony & open carriage) in the peaceful green countryside.

Return to Killarney in the late afternoon Optional: Jaunting Cars (PM) Meals: Breakfast DAY 7, Friday - Bunratty Castle and the Folk Park, Cliffs of Moher Travel north through the picturesque village of Adare, with its pastel-hued storefronts and thatched roof houses, known as the "prettiest village" in Ireland. Visit Bunratty Castle, the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland restored to its former splendor with original furnishings, tapestries and works of art. On to the delightful Folk Park, dedicated to life in Ireland during the 19th century. Experience the sights and sounds of this enchanting place as you stroll from house to house or around the charming village street complete with school, post office, doctor’s house, hardware shop, and, of course, McNamara's pub! Later, view some of Ireland's most spectacular scenery as you drive to the mighty Cliffs of Moher, a wall of rock that rises some 700 feet above the ocean.

Continue north through the desolate limestone plateau known as The Burren to lively Galway for overnight, once a seafaring town steeped in tradition, and now one of the fastest growing cities in Europe Overnight: Galway Meals: Breakfast DAY 8, Saturday - Galway City Tour, Return to Dublin Begin the day with a relaxed morning in Galway where you might shop for souvenirs or take a stroll around Eyre Square. Later, enjoy a tour of the colorful town, including a stop at the grand Galway Cathedral on the banks of the River Corrib. Then, continue on your drive back to Dublin. Tonight, perhaps a stroll through the Temple Bar area or watch the street performers and musicians along the banks of the River Liffey and cross the Ha’penny Bridge. It’s your last night on the Emerald Isle! Overnight: Dublin Book of Kells | illuminated manuscript | Britannica.com illuminated manuscript Saint John’s Bible Book of Kells, illuminated gospel book (MS. A.I. 6; Trinity College Library, Dublin) that is a masterpiece of the ornate Hiberno-Saxon style .

It is probable that the illumination was begun in the late 8th century at the Irish monastery on the Scottish island of Iona and that after a Viking raid the book was taken to the monastery of Kells in County Meath, where it may have been completed in the early 9th century. A facsimile was published in 1974. Illuminated depiction of the first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek, chi and rho; from the … Photos.com/Thinkstock in Ireland: Learning and art ...monasteries on the European continent. Initial letters in the manuscripts were illuminated, usually with intricate ribbon and zoomorphic designs. The most famous of the Irish manuscripts is the Book of Kells, a copy of the four Gospels probably dating from the late 8th to the early 9th century. The earliest surviving illuminated manuscript, the Book of Durrow, was probably made about a... in calligraphy: The Anglo-Celtic and other “national” styles (5th to 13th century) ...than the pointed, more cursive Irish minuscule used for documents and vernacular texts.

There is a high degree of conformity, attesting to their stylistic maturity, among such manuscripts as the Book of Kells (Trinity College, Dublin) and the Lindisfarne Gospels (British Museum, London), individual as they are in detail and ornament. After all, there is room for infinite variation where, in... More about Book of Kells 8 References found in Britannica Articles Assorted References University of Dublin (in University of Dublin ) example of Book of Kells - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) One of the finest examples of Celtic art, the Book of Kells is an ancient Irish illuminated manuscript, a handwritten book that was elaborately decorated and illustrated. The book is a copy of the four Gospels of the Bible in Latin. It is not known for sure who created the Book of Kells, but they were certainly monks. The work was probably begun in the late 8th century AD at the Irish monastery on the Scottish island of Iona. After Iona was attacked by Vikings, the book was apparently taken to the monastery of Kells (now Ceanannus Mor), in County Meath, Ireland. The work may have been completed there in the early 9th century.

It remained at Kells for hundreds of years. In the early 11th century the book was stolen. Although it was recovered a few weeks later, the golden cover and some of the pages were missing and were never found. The Book of Kells is now held by the library of Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland. The work was restored and bound into four volumes in the 1950s, and a copy was published in 1974. Article History Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context.

(Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Submit Thank You for Your Contribution! Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Article Title: Book of Kells Website Name: Encyclopædia Britannica Date Published: February 23, 2010 URL: Access Date: December 29, 2016 Share HALF-DAY DUBLIN CITY TOUR | DUBLIN IRELAND | EUROPE - NORTHERN, BALTIC & UK | ShoreTrips.com HALF-DAY DUBLIN CITY TOUR Back to my search results Dublin has all the attractions of a modern city, combined with the beauty and heritage of the past.

Elegant shops, hotels, galleries, art-house cinemas, coffee houses and a stunning variety of restaurants have sprung up on almost every street in the capital. Roughly half of the Irish Republic’s 3.6 million people live in Dublin and its suburbs. Automatically included in this tour: • Georgian Dublin Plus your choice of two of the following "inside" tours: • Trinity College • Dublin Castle • Royal Hospital Kilmainham This fascinating half-day tour of Dublin gives you an overview of Ireland’s premiere city. You will see the main highlights, including Georgian Dublin, Grafton Street and Phoenix Park. The 18th century, the Georgian era, was this city’s age of elegance when the Irish gentry set about remodeling Dublin into one of the most elegant cities in Europe. Today the best examples of Georgian architecture can be seen around Merrion Square, Fitzwilliam Square and St. Stephen’s Green. Grafton Street, the spine of Dublin’s most popular and stylish shopping district runs south from Trinity College to St. Stephen’s Green.

This busy pedestrian strip is characterized by street entertainers as well as Dublin’s finest department store, Brown Thomas, and the famous jewelers Weirs, but also includes many high street names such as Marks & Spencer, Monsoon, Karen Millen, etc. Just to the west of the city is Phoenix Park, Europe’s largest enclosed city park and the green lung of the city. Within the park you will find Dublin Zoo, Aras an Uachtarain (the Irish president’s official residence), Farmleigh House (former home of the Guinness family and now open to the public), the U.S. ambassador’s residence and a herd of wild deer. This is where many Dubliners come to exercise and it is a lovely place to spend a few hours away from the bustle of the city. In addition to the above city highlights, you may choose two inside visits from the list below to complete this tour. The two most popular options are Trinity College and the Book of Kells and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, but feel free to follow your individual interests. You may make your selections at the time of the tour.

Trinity College and the Book of Kells: Trinity was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I to ‘civilize’ Dublin. It is Ireland’s oldest and most famous college. Ireland’s largest collection of books and manuscripts is housed in the Trinity College Library. It’s principle treasure is the 8th century hand-illuminated Book of Kells, generally considered the most striking manuscript ever produced in the Anglo-Saxon world and one of the greatest masterpieces of early Christian art. St Patrick’s Cathedral: The largest church in the country, this cathedral is named after Ireland’s patron saint who is said to have passed through Dublin on his journey through Ireland. In a well, close to where the cathedral now stands, he is reputed to have baptized converts to Christianity. To commemorate his visit, a small wooden church was built on this site and in 1191 St Patrick’s was raised to the status of cathedral. The present building was erected between 1200 and 1270. Guinness Storehouse: Set in the center of one of the world's most famous breweries, Guinness Storehouse has rapidly become Dublin's 'must see' visitor attraction.

The Guinness Storehouse's dramatic story begins more than 250 years ago and ends in Gravity, the bar in the sky, with a complimentary pint of Guinness, and an astonishing view of Dublin! National Gallery of Ireland: Situated in the heart of Georgian Dublin, it houses the national collection which includes sculpture, prints, drawings and objects d’art but with paintings by Irish and European artists very much to the fore. The Irish art collection spans every period from the 14th century. The National Museum: This museum on Kildare Street is Ireland’s largest, the national repository for all archaeological objects found in Ireland. Its collection contains more than two million artifacts ranging in date from 700 BC and the late medieval period. Closed Mondays. Kilmainham Gaol: For anyone interested in Irish history, a visit to the Kilmainham Gaol is a must. The building was opened in 1796 and during its 130 years as a prison, it housed many of those involved in the fight for Irish independence, including Robert Emmet and Charles Stewart Parnell.

Dublin Castle: Located in the heart of historic Dublin, the castle stands on a ridge, on a strategic site at the junction of the River Liffey and its tributary the Poddle, where the original fortification may have been an early Gaelic ring fort. Later a Viking fortress stood on this site - a portion of which is on view to visitors at the 'Undercroft'. The south range houses the magnificent State Apartments that were built as the residential quarters of the viceregal court. Christ Church Cathedral: Dublin's oldest building – this is the mother church of the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough in the Church of Ireland. Royal Hospital Kilmainham: A magnificent late 17th century Classical building with chapel, great hall, formal gardens, burial grounds and artists’ studios, it is now home to Irish and international visual art. loading reviews... If your ship does not make port, this tour will be non-refundable. Please take out travel insurance to cover this rare occurrence. This is an exception to the normal ShoreTrips Terms of Service. This tour will NOT be refundable in cases in which conditions make it impossible for the ship to dock and disembark passengers in a timely manner.

Private for up to 2 $621.00 USD (Not a per person rate.) Private for up to 4 $727.00 USD (Not a per person rate.) Private for up to 6 $864.00 USD (Not a per person rate.) Private for up to 8 $949.00 USD (Not a per person rate.) Private for up to 10 $1,149.00 USD (Not a per person rate.) Tour Guide

Question: Which city is home to the 8th century 'Book of Kells' ?
Answer: DUBLIN