The Book of Kells is an Irish national treasure kept at Trinity College in Dublin. It was created about 800 a.d. and details the four books of the Gospel. It has been stolen, survived fires, and kept hidden for hundreds of years. The current display is under glass, in dim light, only 2 pages at a time. The process for creating it was scraping cowhide to get really fine almost translucent leather, then setting up gridlines for the Latin text. The illustrations at opening chapters are amazing, done with quills and pure ochre and lapis, they are still quite vivid after centuries.

Do you see the number of people in line? This is after the exhibit had been open for 2 hours. And the exhibit has been at Trinity College since 1650, attracting over 500,000 visitors a year!


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