Minor Exhibit Area at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin
It was my last stop at the Dublin Castle grounds. The castle gardens houses one of the most extraordinary collections in Ireland. The Chester Beatty Library is housed in a modern building in the garden area. It is worth a visit if you’re already in the area. Just keep in mind what the closing hours are so you can take full advantage of the library exhibits. Chester Beatty was mining mogul and apparently he was a very avid collector of manuscripts and books. In the 1950s, the Chester Beatty Library was established to house these collections. The collections are now open for visitors to appreciate. Of these, the impressive ones are the Sacred Traditions and Artistic Traditions.
Lobby Area at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin
You need to leave your bag at the free lockers below before you can head up. I wasn’t really sure why it was not allowed to bring bags since everything was covered by glass anyway. The collections here were astounding. It is a very impressive collection of books before books look like the books we know today. Back then a lot of books were hand made, meaning written. This included any illustrations that go with the book. Needless to say, these were very expensive books even at that time, so much that only royalty and noblemen could own them. With the invention of the printing press, books became cheaper to mass produce. The collection also included Bibles from the Christian and Islamic religions, all of which were very impressive. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a lot of time to explore the library, I was probably in the exhibit area for about 15 minutes before we were told that it was closing. I will definitely be back here once I get a chance to come back to Dublin.
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