There has been a library at Trinity College since its founding in 1592 and the Old Library dates from 1732. The 680-page (340-folio) book was rebound in four calfskin volumes in 1953. The Book of Kells was brought to Trinity College for safekeeping in 1654 and now more than half a million visitors queue up to see it annually. It was stolen in 1007, then rediscovered three months later buried underground. It is thought to have been created around AD 800 by the monks at St Colmcille's Monastery on Iona, a remote island off the coast of Scotland repeated looting by marauding Vikings forced the monks to flee to Kells, County Meath, along with their masterpiece. The history of the Book of Kells is almost as fascinating as its intricate illuminations. Other displays include a one of the last remaining copies of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, read out by Pádraig Pearse at the beginning of the Easter Rising in 1916, as well as the Trinity College Harp, the oldest medieval harp in Ireland and the model for the Guinness logo and the flag of the Irish president. You can linger more in the magnificent Long Room, which houses around 200,000 of the library's oldest and rarest volumes. Unfortunately, only a few pages are ever on display at one time and in busy times it can be just a quick look for visitors. The star of the show is the Book of Kells, a breathtaking, illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels of the New Testament. Trinity's greatest treasures are found within the Old Library and the incredible Long Room is one of the most photographed rooms in Dublin, for good reason.
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