Trinity College Dublin

Trinity College Dublin is a university in central Dublin covering 19 hectares with buildings arranged around courtyards linked by cobblestone paths and green spaces. The campus combines lecture rooms, student residences, a chapel, and the Old Library housed in a long building with tall book shelves.

Queen Elizabeth I of England founded the university in 1592 on the site of a former Augustinian priory as Ireland's first higher education institution. The library received the right to claim a copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland, expanding the collection over the centuries.

The Library preserves the Book of Kells, an eighth-century manuscript with detailed illustrations of the four Christian gospels. Visitors view the opened pages in a dimmed room where lighting brings out the colors and ornaments of the ancient parchments.

Students guide visitors through the campus daily, providing access to the Old Library, examination hall, chapel, and various academic buildings. The main entrance stands at College Green, a central square from which most courtyards and collections are reachable on foot.

The university holds agreements with Oxford and Cambridge that allow graduates from these institutions to receive equivalent degrees without additional examinations. The Long Room Library stretches 65 meters and holds over 200,000 of the oldest volumes in the collection on wooden shelves beneath vaulted ceilings.