Wednesday, May 13th, 2026

Our day started meeting our guide for a tour of Trinity College. She was a student who had finished her studies and was getting ready to graduate. We met her in front of Library Square. She was full of energy and information.

Trinity College is the home to the Book of Kells and the Old Library (Long Room). It was founded in 1592 by royal charter from Queen Elizabeth 1. It is the oldest Ireland university with continuous operation. Some of its famous alumni are Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Beckett.

At the juction of Library Square and Parliament Square was a monument to William Edward Hartpole Lecky. It was erected in 1906 and the bronze cast was by Sir William Gascombe. Lecky was a prominent English language historian of his time.

Near Lecky’s monument is the college’s Campanile (bell tower). It stands 100 feet and is located in the center of the Parliament Square. It was constructed in 1853 and the corner statues represent Divinity, Science, Medicine, and Law.

The Debating Chamber is located in this building. The Hist (College Historical Society) was founded in 1770 and The Phil (University Philosophical Society) was founded in 1683. The Phil meets weekly and values free speech. The Hist also meets weekly and debates political and controversial issues. It would have been quite an experience to attend one of the debates.

Below are pictures from the Trinity College Dublin Museum building. It is home to the Geology Discipline.

We visited the Book of Kells which was located in the Old Library. It is a 9th century gospel manuscript written in Latin at a Columban monastery in Scotland. It includes the four Gospels of the new testament. It began with an exhibition entitled “Turning Darkness into Light”. It explains the history and symbolism of the Book of Kells manuscript as well as how the vellum and pigments were made. It was a great introduction.

The pictures below were taken in the exhibition. No photos were allowed when we visited the Book of Kells which was open to pages from the Gospel of Luke. The pages are turned several times per year for conservation purposes.

After our visit to the Book of Kells we went upstairs to the Long Room. It housed over 200,000 of the library’s oldest books in oak bookcases. Due to the redevelopment project of the Old Library the books were removed, cleaned, tagged digitally and relocated to an off-site, climate controlled storage facility to stop the deterioration of the ancient paper and leather. Once the redevelopment project has been completed, the collections will be returned to the library shelves.

A gem in the Long Room was the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic which was read outside the General Post Office on April 24, 1916 by Patrick Pearse at the start of the Easter Rising.

Installed in the Old Library is an illuminated artwork called Gaia. It features NASA imagery of the Earth’s surface. It floats in 3 dimensions as it might be viewed from space.

After our tour of Trinity College we decided to get some lunch before heading for our Guinness Brewery tour. On the way we passed the Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture. It is a life-sized statue. He stood 6′ 3″ and was depicted at age 40. He was dressed in his famous smoking jacket and is carved from solid jade. His face is happy on the left side and sad on the right side. He is sitting on a 35 ton quartz boulder.

We checked in at the St. James Gate at Guinness to begin our tour! Guinness beer began in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. The Storehouse tour covers 7 floors and ends at the Gravity Bar.

Below are some of the views from the Gravity Bar looking out at Dublin.

The Gravity Bar gives 360˚ views of the city and the tour includes a pint of Guinness!

When we finished our Guinness tour we headed back to our hotel because we needed to get ready for our Celtic Nights Show & 3 course Traditional Irish Dinner at the Arlington Hotel.

A short example of one of the dance numbers with the band. The dancers and the band were very good.

After the show we walked back to our hotel.

Tomorrow morning we meet our driver/guide and say goodbye to Dublin!