Trinity College Dublin

Trinity College Dublin, the oldest university in Ireland, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland and endowed by the city of Dublin. The two names of the school—the University of Dublin and Trinity College Dublin—are used interchangeably, though there are legal and other differences between these entities. Trinity College’s library is the largest in Ireland and contains a significant number of medieval illuminated manuscripts, including the famous Book of Kells (c. 800).

History and architecture

Trinity College was intended to be the first of many constituent colleges of the University of Dublin, in an organizational plan modeled after the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. However, only one college was established. The school’s establishment was also intended to strengthen the Protestant Reformation and English rule in Ireland and to bring the country into step with the rest of Europe intellectually. Enrollment was limited to Anglicans until 1793, after which Roman Catholics and Dissenters were permitted to enroll but with some restrictions still in place. Professorships, fellowships, and scholarships were reserved for Protestants until 1873, when all religious requirements were eliminated. However, in 1871 the Catholic Church in Ireland instituted its own ban against Catholics attending Trinity, though this was not imposed by the university itself. That ban was lifted in 1970. Women were first admitted to the university in 1904.

At the time of its founding, Trinity was located outside Dublin’s city walls in the buildings of a former Augustinian monastery, the Priory of All Hallows. As Dublin’s population grew, the city’s boundaries expanded and surrounded the school, such that its vicinity is now considered to be the heart of the city.

Trinity’s buildings boast many different styles of architecture. One of the most striking features is the campanile (bell tower) located between the university’s Parliament and Library squares. A legend claims that any Trinity student who passes underneath the tower while the bells are tolling will fail the school’s exams. This has led to a ritual in which many students mark their graduation day with a celebratory walk underneath the tower.

Library and collections

The Library of Trinity College Dublin, as it is officially known, is composed of several buildings and contains more than six million printed volumes, including extensive collections of rare books, maps, and manuscripts. As a designated legal, or copyright, deposit library, it is entitled to one print copy of every book published in Ireland; it may also request a copy of every book published in the United Kingdom.

The library’s early benefactors included James Ussher, an Anglican prelate who studied at Trinity, and Henry Jones, an Anglican bishop and former vice-chancellor of the university who presented the library with what has become its prize jewel, the Book of Kells. This illuminated manuscript is housed in the Old Library, an 18th-century building with a stunning main chamber nearly 213 feet (65 meters) long. The chamber, known as the Long Room, features a barrel-vaulted ceiling and bookcases lining the upper gallery in addition to those on the lower level. Its other treasures include an antique bust of the great Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift, a medieval harp made of oak and willow with brass strings, and one of the few remaining copies of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which was read out loud by Irish nationalist leader Patrick Pearse outside Dublin’s General Post Office on April 24, 1916, at the start of the Easter Rising.