Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is one of the world's most celebrated illuminated manuscripts and the star attraction of the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin. Created by Columban monks around AD 800, it contains the four Gospels in Latin, written on vellum and decorated with extraordinarily intricate interlaced patterns, animals and figures in vivid pigments that still glow more than twelve centuries later.

The exhibition surrounding the manuscript explains the world of early medieval Ireland, the techniques of the scribes and illuminators, and the journey of the book itself, which is thought to have been begun at the monastery of Iona before being moved to the abbey at Kells in County Meath. Two of the four volumes are displayed at any one time, with pages turned regularly to share more of the artwork with visitors.

Entry includes access to the magnificent Long Room above, a barrel-vaulted 18th-century library lined with marble busts and home to 200,000 of the college's oldest books. Together the manuscript and the Long Room form one of Dublin's most visited cultural sights, in the heart of the historic Trinity campus just off College Green.