Dublin 2: Trinity College

More travelogue from Dublin. This is the totally gorgeous Long Hall in Trinity College. There is no reflection, there really are two levels of nearly identical bookcases.

Trinity College was founded in 1592 by Elizabeth I, so pretty old, though not as old as Oxbridge. However it contains something much older, the Book of Kells, which is not something out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but the most famous of all the illuminated manuscripts that came out of the dark ages.

Unfortunately there are only four of them, of which only two were on display, and only one showing the pictures, so there was a bit of a rugger scrum around it. In a way its easier to see it here, though you don't get a feel for the shear density, imagination, and richness of the original:

Its not all old though in Trinity College, there was also this statue that seemed somehow rather familiar - wasn't one just like this in Kew?

There was also this Star Wars like death-star like statue outside the modern Berkeley Library.