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The Long Hall
Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

[Tuesday - 11/12/02] The Library of Trinity College is the largest research library in Ireland and holds the largest collection of manuscripts and printed books in Ireland. In addition to the purchases and donations of almost four centuries, the Library is privileged in having the right to legal deposit of British and Irish publications. The Library contains a stock of almost four million volumes and twenty thousand current serials, housed in a total of eight buildings.

The Old Library is as old as Trinity College, which was granted a charter by Queen Elizabeth in 1592. The Old Library is the earliest surviving building on campus - built between 1712 and 1732, to the design of Thomas Burgh. On its completion it was the university's most prominent building and towered over the city center. The main chamber of the Old Library is the Long Hall (or Long Room). At 65 meters long, it contains 200,000 of the Library's oldest books in oak book cases lining the handsome timber alcoves.

Scholarly heads, carved in marble, form a guard along each side of the hall and a high mansard ceiling arches beautifully over the hushed grandeur of the upper tier. The library also displays the oldest harp in Ireland.

For many years the Long Room of the Old Library in Trinity College was the venue for displaying the Book of Kells. In 1992, however, a custom-built Treasury in the east pavilion of the same building was designed for its display. The 807 AD Book of Armagh and the 675 AD Book of Durrow are also on display in the Library.


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Last modified on Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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