Trinity College Dublin
Visual Arts in Cork

TCD Library

Trinity College (Coláiste na Tríonóide), Ireland's oldest university, was founded in Dublin in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is considered the foremost Irish University and is among the most respected English-speaking universities in the world. It includes many historic buildings of architectural merit, such as the Museum designed by the Irish architects Deane and Woodward, and the Chapel designed by Sir William Chambers. Its art collection contains numerous examples of outstanding Irish painting.

Library

Like the British Library in London, TCD Library is legally entitled to a copy of each book published in the UK (and Ireland), receiving more than 100,000 new volumes every year. Its total of books now exceeds 4.5 million books, including numerous collections of rare manuscripts. A recent addition to the facility is the James Ussher Library, opened in 2003. The new section accomodates the Glucksman Map Library containing 500,000 printed maps, including the nineteenth Ordnance Surveys of Ireland.

Visual Art Treasures

Among the library's great collection of literary and visual art from Ireland, are manuscripts dating from the thirteenth century BCE, third century BCE Egyptian papyrus scrolls, unique medieval Gospel manuscripts, as well as rare writings and notebooks by authors such as Jonathan Swift and Samuel Beckett.

Book of Kells

Located in the Old Library, Trinity College's most famous treasure is the Book of Kells (c.800). One of the best surviving examples of the Hiberno-Saxon style or Insular art. Considered to be one of the finest illuminated manuscripts in early Christian art, it marks the third step (after the Newgrange Celtic engravings, and the ornamental gold objects of Irish Bronze Age Art) in the history of Irish art. Other examples of monastic Irish art at TCD include: the Book of Durrow (c.670) and the Book of Dimma (c.625) which, while earlier, are much less spectacular than the Book of Kells.

Visual Archive and Digital Art

Central to TCD's digital archive is the Crookshank-Glin Collection which was gifted to the library by Anne Crookshank, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, and Desmond FitzGerald the Knight of Glin. Incorporating a collection of 45,000 photographic images, correspondence, as well as notebooks and exhibition catalogues, it forms the most extensive image collection of Irish painting anywhere in the world.

• For facts about the art industry in Ireland, see: Irish Art: Visual Arts Cork.

• How to Update This Mini Review of Trinity College Dublin Library.