Out and about in Dublin

Day 7, Friday 17 August

Trinity College — The Book of Kells

This exhibit took me back to Prep and the ritual beginning of every day being the drawing of an AMDG to decorate each new page. seeing the intricate work done by the inks in the a book of Kells has given me an insight into the motivation of those nuns all those years ago. Even to complete our crude decorative borders would have taken  hours and required
Concentration and focus all of which would classiest a class of 5 year olds quiet for hours. I wish I had some samples of the work I did all those years ago. My child's memory tells me it was a very satisfying process and one of which I was very proud.

To The Book of Kells. This amazing manuscript that dates to AD 800 is one of the oldest books in the world. It contains the four Gospels of the New Testament, written in Latin. If it were merely the words the Book of Kells would simply be a very old book - it's the extensive and amazingly complex illustrations that make it so wonderful. Imagine the time and labour of the process. First you have to kill a beast; not to put too fine a point on it a baby beast is preferred, (unless one has conveniently died for you). Then you have to remove all the obvious nastiness that animals skins have on the outside, it's hair etc. Then the hide needs to be prepared, this might involve soaking them in urine to make them soft enough to tan. This specially treated calf skin is called vellum. The hide next needs to be fixed on a frame for the writing process to begin. And all this is happening in a small stone monastery, cold, damp and with minimal lighting.

Things the Irish do and don't do
- they do always carry an umbrella (I wonder why)
- they do know how to talk
- they don't start the day early
- they don't take any notice of traffic signals
- they do not wear bike helmets
- they do like beer (in any form) at any time of the day
- they do not know how to make a long story short
- they do like to eat vegetables that have been boiled

The sun does come out in Ireland - I got a sunburnt face today.

The virtues of Black pudding remain a mystery to me and one that I am happy to leave a mystery.

Trinity College Library

The main courtyard at Trinity College

The National Museum of Ireland

Free, which makes a nice change.
The museum has a collection of early Irish archaeology. The display that most captivated me was called Kingship and Sacrifices, we came face to face with historic discoveries that give amazing insights from iron age bog bodies, burial ceremonies, kinship  and sovereignity.

The bog bodies are an extraordinary record of life and culture in Ireland. One of the bog bodies Oldcroghan Man was in extraordinary condition. Imagine looking at the hand and nail pits of a human remain that dates back to 400 BCE. His finger prints and hair pits are clearly seen.

On display also were amazing gold jewellery and treasures from early celtic to christian periods of Irish history. The Irish have such a story to tell and are so proud of what they have done and it shows in the content and the information that they provide. The National Museum is not big (about the size of the old Victorian Museum in the city) but it has a fantastic collection that tells the story of the Irish.

Bishop's staff with patterns from the Viking era

Ancient horn with early celtic design

Magnificent metal cross with container for a holy relic

Detail of the decoration on the cross

Finely patterned gold celtic neck plate

Interior of National Museum

The Trinity Library

A great many choices of books (Sue eat your heart out)
First impression was the smell. At first the smell was the books, but on further sniff examination I realised it was the smell of the old oak that was in fact the timber of the library. The dark oak interior is the work of master crafts men. College building accounts show repeated employment of several generations of the same families of artisans in plumbing, slating, painting, plastering, and stone cutting. Today the Long Room stands at 63.7 metres long, 12.2 metres wide, and 14.2 metres high.  In 1892 the Long Room held some 250,000 volumes. What a wonderful crusty, dusty old gem. The scale of the library is its other striking feature.
They had some fantastic samples of ancient, medieval and early industrial revolution period books that showed the evolution really well. The collection is spread over European and Middle Eastern books as well as their own Irish collection.

The Temple Bar

After lunch it was time to wander the Temple Bar area. Lots of the pubs were full with live music happening and buskers outside competing for the crowds. It was very busy for the middle of the day so no doubt it really warms up at night.

Some of the pubs have 24 hour live music.

The streets were busy.

The original Temple Bar

Had dinner tonight at a restaurant near our accommodation called The Farm.