Dublin - Old Library

For tourists the most interesting building on the Trinity College campus is the Old Library. Since 1801 the library has been a copyright library, i.e. it is entitled to receive a copy of every book published in Ireland and Great Britain. It now has some 5,000 manuscripts and two million printed books. Among its treasures are manuscripts, incunabula and early printed books. On the ground floor, the so-called Colonnades, the Book of Kells (eighth century) is displayed. This book, containing the four Gospels, has some 340 richly decorated pages, one of which is on show each day; the beginnings of the Gospels and of individual chapters have particularly elaborate decoration. Other especially valuable treasures are the "Book of Durrow" (seventh century), the "Book of Dimma" (eighth C.), and the "Book of Armagh" (ninth century, with an 11th C. leather binding). From the ground floor a handsome staircase by Cassels leads up to the Long Room, 200ft/60m long with a timber barrel-vaulted roof. Here can be seen marble busts of famous members of the university and an Irish harp, one of the oldest instruments of its kind.