UK cheechako

There's more than just drinking in Dublin

For those of you wondering if we do anything that doesn't involve alcohol, here is your answer.

While in Dublin we also visited Trinity College, which is home to the Book of Kells. If you don't know anything about the book, don't feel bad. I had never heard of it before we started researching Dublin. In any case, the book is a decorated version of the 4 Gospels, written around 800 AD, and it is amazing. You can't take pictures inside the Library, but below is a picture from the book, which I found on some guy's website (you can go there yourself if you want more).

This is a portrait of Christ on folio 32V of the book. You can't necessarily see it here, but the coloring is just amazing.

This website also has some images from the book. Apparently there were 1480 facsimiles made a few years ago, at a cost of $18,000, and it looks as if these guys have decided to post some pictures from those.











We also toured Dublin Castle while we were there. Most of the castle has been rebuilt, but there are still some portions of the original castle remaining. Below is picture of the original castle wall.
















In addition to that, we also toured Kilmainham Jail. It is only a tourist attraction now, but from 1796 until 1926 it was not a pleasant place to be. This is where the organizers of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and eventually executed.


To the left is a picture of me in the "new" part of the jail, and below is a picture of the old part.















Below is a picture of the Stonebreakers yard where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were
executed, along with a plaque commemorating their executions.

posted by Yankee @ 7:51 PM