Conveniently, Trinity College is right beside our hotel. 

The Trinity College library was founded by Queen Elizabeth I and has received a copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland since 1801!  Due to a major rehabilitation and conservation project, many/most of the books in the Long Room have been temporarily removed.  Some cool videos showed the rehabilitation project including cleaning and re-binding of the books.

We are here to see the Book of Kells, an illuminated Bible in Latin, containing the four gospels of the New Testament and bound into 4 volumes. 

The book was created in a Columban monastery on the island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland in approx. 800 AD.  Saint Columba was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in Scotland. He founded an abbey on Iona and is the patron saint of Derry.  

Scottish monks brough the Book of Kells to Ireland while escaping Viking raids. 

The book is on permanent display at the Trinity College library (they usually display one or two volumes at a time). 

Today the Gospel of John was displayed in the Treasury Room. Said to be the most mystical of the gospels, St John reveals the divine nature of Jesus Christ through his teachings and miracles.

Being over 1200 years old, the books are very delicate and no photos are allowed in the treasury room where they are displayed.  

After viewing the Book of Kells, we had a nice lunch at the Hairy Lemon Pub.

Later, we decided we didn’t have enough whiskey yesterday, so stopped at the Irish Whiskey Museum for another tasting. 

Dinner was aboard the La Peniche floating restaurant which took us on a cruise up the Grand Canal in the south of Dublin. 

Tomorrow we pick up the rental car and head south to through the Wicklow mountains towards Glendalough.