September 27. After successfully returning my rental car, taking the bus from the airport to center city and locating my hotel yesterday, I took it easy last night and walked around just to get my bearings, leaving the touring until today. I found Trinity College this morning and was fortunate enough to see the exhibit of the Book of Kells at the Old Library. There were wall sized illuminated reproductions of some of the folio pages. Under glass, were the preserved originals. Absolutely fantastic. Ever since I went to Trinity College in Hartford where I minored in Medieval and Renaissance studies, I have been interested in monastic culture and art. The sophistication of the art of these monks is unbelievable.
Incredibly complex curvilinear designs and thematic Christian symbolism. The script in the original manuscript is just beautiful. It occured to me how the spirals of Bru na Boinne had evolved into this form. I suspect that the same artistic and spiritual tradition, now lost, were perpetuated by the same culture over millenia. The inside of the Old Library, where no photos were permitted, was just awesome. Thousands and thousands of books, all alphabetically arranged in high shelves, under a wood framed barrel-vaulted ceiling. Truly a treasure trove of knowledge and history.
I walked around the campus and took these photos. Elm trees and grass quads reminiscent of my alma mater, though architecturally quite different.
This is after all
the original .
