Established in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth 1, Trinity College was originally founded as a Protestant College. At its foundation, the college offered free education to Catholics who were prepared to change their religion, and right up until the 1970s- long after the rule on religion had been dropped by the college itself, Catholics had to get a special dispensation to study at Trinity or risk excommunication. Nowadays, roughly 70% of the student population is Catholic. Harmoniously composed 18th and 19th century building are ranged around cobbled quadrangles in a grander version of the arrangements at Oxford and Cambridge. The cobble stones must be re-laid every 7 years as the land which was reclaimed from the sea is still subsiding.

Although famous in its own right as Ireland’s most prestigious university, with students such as Jonathan Swift, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Oliver Goldsmith, visitors to Trinity are largely drawn by the Book of Kells, housed in the Treasury. Few books are venerated to such a level as the exquisitely ornate Book of Kells. With a total of 680 pages, the Book of Kells consists of the 4 Gospels of the New Testament written in Latin. Its origins date back to around 800AD, when it was produced by scribes from the monastery of Iona, off the West coast of Scotland, founded by the great Irish monk, St. Colmcille. During the Viking raids of the 9th century, the book was taken to Ireland for safekeeping, and came to Dublin in the 17th century.

After examining the manuscripts, you climb the stairs to the magnificent Long Room, built between 1712 and 1732, where you will be greeted with the erudite aroma of over 200,000 antiquarian books along with the oldest surviving harp in Ireland and an original printing of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic.