The following post is part of a Seed Pod collaboration about libraries. Seed Pods are a SmallStack community project designed to help smaller publications lift each other up by publishing and cross-promoting around a common theme. We’re helping each other plant the seeds for growth!
A little over a week ago, my husband and I were in Ireland, and we visited The Old Library at Dublin’s Trinity College, one of the oldest and most impressive libraries in the world. The main gallery of the Old Library is the Long Room, which is approx. 213 feet long. This huge room normally houses over 200,000 of the libraries oldest books, but at the time of our visit, a daunting restoration project was underway on these precious books.
The Old Library was built between 1712 and 1732 with a flat plaster ceiling and an open gallery but had become so full of books by 1860 that the roof was raised to allow construction of the current, distinctive, barrel-vaulted ceiling and upper gallery bookcases.
This photo shows the Long Room now, empty of books, during the restoration. As you can see, marble busts line the Long Room, most of the them of male philosophers and writers, primarily commissioned from sculptor Peter Scheemakers, beginning in 1743.
One of the biggest draws now, while the restoration is in progress, is gigantic, illuminated artwork, titled Gaia, by artist Luke Jerram, that has been installed in the Old Library. The installation features NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface, showcasing the planet floating in three dimensions as it might be viewed from space. It’s a stunning thing to behold.
In lieu of the books in the stacks, visitors can watch large format film loops of the restoration the book restoration process, from the handling and packing of the books, to rebinding and cleaning.
Another treasure in the Long Room is one of the few remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which was read outside the General Post Office on April 14, 1916 by Patrick Pearse at the start of the Easter Rising.
There is also a medieval harp on display, probably dating from the 15th century, known as the Brian Boru harp. It is the model for the emblem of Ireland, which appears on currency and is the Guinness symbol.
A visit to the Old Library is included when you buy a ticket to the “Book of Kells Experience,” which you also do not want to miss. At the end of the Book of Kells Experience, illuminated on the wall is the Jorge Luis Borges quotation: “I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library” in English and in Gaelic.
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Total bucket list destination! Wow!
Wow, I feel like I got a taste of your experience through these photos!