Preserving the Books in Trinity’s Old Library
This is not my picture (thank you, Wikipedia!), but I’ve had the privilege of visiting this space a handful of times.
One of my favorite things to see in Dublin is the Book of Kells, which is housed in the library at Trinity College Dublin. And when you get tickets to see this illuminated manuscript from the 9th century, you also get to see this, the Old Library’s Long Room, which has been in “constant use since 1732” according to a recent NYT article. Why the feature in the paper? (See below.) Well, the Old Library is the recipient of a major conservation effort and will be out of commission for three years. “The library, visited by as many as a million people a year, had been needing repairs for years, but the 2019 fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was an urgent reminder that it needed to be protected, according to those involved in the conservation effort.”
Wake-up call 101: “When we saw Notre Dame burning, we realized, ‘Oh, my God, we need to do something now!’” – Professor Veronica Campbell.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit, well, lucky you. Books galore and something really cool to think about is this, according to a member of An Taisce, a conservation-focused NGO: “’Back in the 18th century, Trinity was the university of the Irish Enlightenment,’ he said, an alma mater to writers and thinkers like Edmund Burke, Oliver Goldsmith and Jonathan Swift… ‘Those people would have used that library in the way modern students use the new libraries.’”
{I did nab a photo from a book that a friend made after visiting us. I spy with my little eye a few members of our families. #WheresWaldo, ie #WheresWally in Ireland.}
{And PS: If you think you might be into the Book of Kells, you really must visit the Chester Beatty Museum, also in Dublin. Fascinating!}
originally published on instagram