The Trinity College And The Book Of Kells

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I know you do not have to visit Ireland to learn about the Book of Kells, and most like, it would be better if I knew about it beforehand – then, I could be more appreciative in advance of what I was going to see. In case you are like me and had never heard about it before, it’s an amazing 800 A.D. manuscript containing four canonic gospels (BTW, I thought that the four gospels were canonized later, but that happened in the 4th century!) This amazing manuscript was produced by four monks who copied the text and three illustrators.

The wiki page for the Book of Kells reproduces a lot of illustrations and provides a lot of historic contexts. And obviously, you can’t take pictures of the book itself, so that’s the only way you can have an idea of how it looks like. Just one thing I want to say – it feels surreal when you think you are looking at the book produced 1200 years ago and think about real-life humans who did it!

Here are some pictures from the exhibition about the Book of Kells:

I thought that many years ago when I was really into history, I read about the origin of the name Pangur, and I thought it was used in the Gargantua book, but I can’t find any references now. All the links point to that cat 🙂
And the Library! Do you know how old books smell?!!!
Trying to lean in and figure out what are the books on he shelves!
The oldest Irish Harp
T
Provost George Salmon proclaimed that women enter Trinity college “over his dead body.” Less than ten years after his death, women were first admitted. Of course, we had to take our picture by his statue! “If a female had once passed the gate it would be practically impossible to watch what buildings or chambers she had entered or how long she might remain there.” 

Published by Hettie D.

My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996. I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future. I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life. As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.

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2 thoughts on “The Trinity College And The Book Of Kells”

  1. Haven’t you watched the movie “The Secret of Kells”? It’s a beautiful and very artsy animated movie about the story of the Book of Kells. It’s one of my favorite animations ever.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I learned about it while I was researching/catching up on things I didn’t know about the Book of Kells. For a reason I can’t really explain, I am not really into animations. I would say I should have a very strong reason to watch any animation. That’s about my deficiencies, not about animation as a genre 🙂 I am just explaining why I didn’t watch it.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

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