Ireland’s most famous medieval manuscript has attracted ten million visitors, the Medievalists website reports.
The Book of Kells at the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin is a masterpiece of illumination. Created around the year 800, it consists of the four Gospels and contains numerous full-page illustrations in the insular style. Its artwork has been reproduced many times and has been an inspiration for generations of artists. The book gets its name from the Abbey of Kells in Ireland where it was kept for most of the Middle Ages.
The Old Library, which was founded in 1712, reached its visitor milestone earlier this week thanks to a family of four from England. The library attracts more than half a million visitors a year. While its star attraction is the Book of Kells, visitors shouldn’t miss the other historic manuscripts and the beautiful library itself.
Staff are in the process of upgrading the Book of Kells exhibition to improve access and add interactive exhibits.
For more photos, jump the cut.
[Photos courtesy Wikimedia Commons]
Portrait of St. John.
Decorated initial letter from text.
