Dublin ; The Book of Kells

The book of Kells is a beautiful handwritten and drawn illuminated text of the gospels written in a Columban monastery in about the year c800AD.  The colours in the book, the artistry and the workmanship surpass any other religious text. 

The lavish illustrations are a sign of the respect and reverence shown to the text of the gospels.

The book's name comes from the monastery at Kells, Co. Meath in Ireland which was founded c. 807AD by monks who were escaping Viking attacks on the monastery of Iona, an isle in Western Scotland.

No one knows the exact date it was written but it was probably started on Iona at the end of the 700s and taken to Kells for completion. It stayed at Kells until the late 1600s when it was bought by and taken to Trinity College, Dublin. It has remained in the library at Trinity since that time. 

 It is believed to have been stolen at one point in 1007 from the western annex at Kells. 

Each of the evangelists has a symbol in the Book of Kells.

St Matthew's symbol is a man. This is to emphasise the human aspect of Jesus
St Luke's symbol is the ox which represents Jesus' sacrifice.
St Mark's symbol is the lion and shows Jesus' power and kingship
St John's symbol is an eagle and emphasises Jesus' ascension

Ogham as it appears in Modern Irish is pronounced oa...hm. It was originally in old Irish Ogam (og...am ) . Ogham was an ancient Irish alphabet. It was incorporated into the Latin text and Roman alphabet in the book. 

The pigments used in the script were from plant and mineral-based sources.  The colours used were ;-

Carbon black

Iron gall

Red lead

Orpiment

Gypsum

Indigo

Orcein

Verdigris

This is an 11th Century poem written in honour of the followers of St Colum Cille and his followers who are believed to have scribed the Book of Kells and also The Book of Durrow. 

My hand is weary with writing 

My sharp quill is not steady

My slender-beaked pen juts forth

A black draught of shining dark-blue ink.

A stream of the wisdom of blessed God

Springs from my fair-brown shapely hand

On the page it squirts its draught

Of ink of the green-skinned holly. 

My little dripping pen travels

Across the plain of shining books

Without ceasing for the wealth of the great-

Whence my hand is weary from writing. 

About this time, significant anniversaries or events were often marked with an illustrated gospel book. For example, the Lindisfarne Gospels are believed to have been done in honour of St Cuthbert. These were done in approx 715, decades before The Book of Kells.

The Book of Durrow was created in County Offaly and predates Kells by nearly a century. It is an Insular script, which is a medieval  Irish script widely used in Christian texts at the time. The monastery at Durrow was also founded by St Colum Cille. 

The Book of Armagh is believed to have belonged to St Patrick but this is felt to be unlikely given the dates.  It is also an illuminated text. 

The Irish pocket gospels of Dimma and Mulling were specific to Ireland and were illustrated copies. They are written in tiny Insular Script

Carpet pages were pages of illuminated decoration between some of the gospel pages of text. They are highly decorative.

My long wait to see this yesterday was worthwhile. I was not disappointed. The display and exhibit are beautifully and simply presented.  The information is clear and understandable. I feel very privileged to see it but also very fortunate that it took me 36 minutes of airtime to reach Dublin to see this masterpiece.