The Book of Kells

This was absolutely amazing. It was hard to cut it down to ten photos.

You start by going through a gallery that explains what the Book of Kells is, how vellum was made, how they made the inks, the symbolism used etc. There are audio guides which are really helpful. Then you get to see the book itself. They turn the page every few months.

After that you go to the Old Library, or the Long Room. This looks like something straight out of Harry Potter. It is incredible and I’m very glad I came to see it. Most of the books have been removed for restoration purposes and next year they will be closing altogether. They’re not sure how long - possibly six years!

There are amazing artifacts and marble busts in the room. There is also an exhibit called Gaia. It’s a globe of 6m in diameter that is made up of thousands of photos compiled from NASA. It’s amazing.

Honestly, at this point I felt I had my money’s worth. But wait, there’s more!

I got a little bit lost getting out to the next part of the exhibition. I missed a set of stairs somewhere, but the staff were nice and helped me find the way.

Out the back is a big red building where they digitise the experience. You see the marble busts, they project on to them so Shakespeare can have a conversation with Ada Lovelace! There is a digital retelling of the history of the Book of Kells. You can see archive boxes and scan QR codes to learn more about what’s in the collection. Then there is a room at the end which is made up to look like the long room. They project on to it, so you can see it in full glory. Then they show you elements from various books that are held there!

It’s really a fabulous experience and my only regret is that I couldn’t delve into the gift shop properly as I had to run to meet the bus.Read more