Trinity College is Ireland's oldest and highest ranked institution of higher learning. It's located on a 47-acre site to the south of the Liffey and has about 17,000 students total (including undergraduates and post-graduates). It was founded in 1592 as the first college of a new university (known as the University of Dublin) which was to be modelled after multi-college universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in England. But they never got around to adding any other colleges, so the University of Dublin and Trinity College are pretty much the same thing. An earlier University of Dublin was founded by the Pope in 1311, but was dissolved when Britain went Protestant, under Henry VIII. Trinity College was founded as a Protestant school (under Elizabeth I), and Catholics were not admitted until 1793. Things have loosened up since (Ireland is mainly Catholic, after all), and both Catholic and Protestant services are now conducted in the university chapel. Well-known Trinity College alumni include dramatist Samuel Beckett, Dracula creator Bram Stoker, satirist Jonathan Swift, philosopher Edmund Burke and dramatist/poet/Personality Oscar Wilde.

We entered the college through a building on the west end of the campus called the Regent House. An archway in this building spilled us out into an open space called Parliament Square. There are a number of such squares on the campus, and this one is surrounded on three sides by the Regent House, the Chapel (1798, designed by George III's architect, Sir William Chambers) and the Public Theatre (a twin to the Chapel, and facing it across the square). We noticed a tour group in the middle of the square, and we eavesdropped for a bit before venturing off on our own.


On the fourth side of Parliament Square is a structure called the Campanile, which separates Parliament Square from Library Square. Statues and sculptures can be found in Library Square, and the surrounding buildings are also of interest.


The building on the south side of Library Square is called the Museum Building. It dates from 1857 and actually holds a few museum-like exhibits. Most of the building, however, is apparently devoted to seminar rooms and libraries.




On leaving the Museum Building, we walked around the end of the building and noticed a modern bronze sculpture that looked familiar. This was a Sphere Within Sphere sculpture by the contemporary Italian artist Arnaldo Pomodoro. As it turns out, there are several versions of this sculpture, of varying sizes, scattered around the world (including a number of locations in the U.S.). The one we remembered was in the Cortile della Pigna of the Vatican Museums in Rome (it was much larger).

We were headed for the college's Old Library building, the home of the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript from about 800 A.D. which is considered to be one of Ireland's top national treasures. The book contains the four gospels of the New Testament (in Latin), plus some additional material. While it's not the oldest such book among the library's possessions (the Book of Durrow is a century older), it is more elaborately illustrated and is valued for its beauty and condition. It was sent to Dublin in 1654 from the Abbey of Kells to protect it from Oliver Cromwell's marauding cavalry, and it's been at Trinity College since 1661. Only a few pages are on display at any one time, and photography is forbidden. Images of the complete manuscript can be found online. Some of the library's other books from the same period are on display as well, including a "pocket gospel" called the Book of Dimma.

After viewing the ancient books, we headed back up O'Connell Street to our hotel. Our time in Ireland was coming to an end. The next day we would be boarding a plane for Madrid, Spain.