I’ve been staying at Trinity College, Dublin, which is a fairly old college that built in the 1500s on the site of a former monastery. The monastery was destroyed when King Henry the 8th became annoyed at the Catholic Church for not letting him divorce his wives. As a result, he also went about destroying monasteries in Ireland and Britain. Queen Elizabeth I who came after Henry wanted to establish a Protestant university in Dublin and established Trinity College in 1592.
Wednesday I slept most of the morning after my flight, then walked down Grafton Street to St Stephen’s Green and along the River Liffey.
Trinity College
River Liffey
Thursday morning I went for a guided tour of Trinity College, and then went to see the Book of Kells exhibit.
The Book of Kells is a manuscript of the four gospels that was written by monks from Iona in the 800s. The monks eventually left Iona because of the Viking raids and settled in Kells Ireland. In the 1600s, the book was given to Trinity college for safekeeping. It has some spectacular artwork.
Some carvings on the Museum building which was part of the college tour
The book of Kells is normally housed inside the old library at Trinity. However, the library is currently undergoing renovations in order to digitize the books and set up fire suppression for the building. We were allowed to go inside and see the shelves. The book of Kells itself is housed in another exhibit. We were allowed to see the book but not allowed to take photos. Apparently the page gets turned about every 3 months. Today, the book was open to the genealogy of Jesus in the gospel of Luke.
The interior of the Library
I then spent several hours at the National Museum of Ireland. Lots of interesting archaeological fines. Looking at things that are over 1000 years old makes you wonder how much of our stuff will be of interest to people in the future a 1000 years from now.
I then spent more time than I thought I would in a delightful bookstore called Hodges Figgis. It has been around since 1768.
The cooking section of Hodges Figgis
I then wandered through the courtyard of the Dublin castle before making my way over to Christ Church for the Evensong service. It had been a while since I had listened to a good choir sing and I had forgotten the power and beauty of great choral music. The sound was spectacular.
Dublin castle
The Statue of homeless Jesus outside of Christ Church
