![]() ![]() Since it will not be on display for the next few months due to renovations, I’ll have to wait and enjoy all the high-quality, enlarged photographs in Meehan’s book in the meantime. I look forward to one day travelling there to see it for myself. The Book of Kells is presently owned by Trinity College Dublin, where it’s displayed in the Old Library. ![]() Therefore, it’s an unparalleled source of pride to the Irish, whose culture (unfairly) isn’t usually given credit for such artistic and intellectual greatness. And it was created during the so-called “Dark Ages”, when Ireland had the skill, resources, or learning to make something so spectacular and the rest of Western Europe didn’t. Regardless, it was definitely made by Irishmen, who populated both monasteries. It may have been created in Kells, County Meath, where it was located and named later in the Middle Ages, in a monastery on the Scottish island of Iona, or partially in both places. What is highly important, however, is the Book of Kells’s well-deserved status as a symbol of Irish culture. For example, the page shown at the top of this article reads “ In principio erat verbum” (“In the beginning was the word”), but that’s not too obvious, is it? Most pages are more user friendly than this example, but even still, the Book of Kells was probably intended more for presentation than intense reading. Even if you can and want to read them in Latin, you would still turn elsewhere, because all the decoration seriously obscures parts of the text. If your goal is to read the gospels, there are much better books to do it in. You don’t view the Book of Kells for its verbal content any more than you visit the Roman Colosseum because of the entertainments once performed inside. All of this together makes the Book of Kells a strong candidate for the title of World’s Most Famous Book, which it’s frequently claimed to be.Īs I said before, the text contained in the Book of Kells isn’t what’s most important. The reasons for the profuse decoration in general and the symbolism behind many particular elements are lost on us today, further enhancing the book’s allure. You feel that you can’t ever fully understand its secrets, but what you see makes you happy and light-hearted all the same. This trait makes the Book of Kells seem mysterious, magical, and whimsical. You could stare at one page forever and still continue to discover new features. ![]() The decoration is so dense that much of it is essentially hidden from view unless you look long and hard. Animal forms such as mice, rabbits, moths, fish, lions, funny little bird heads, and more appear amidst all this interlace. Miles of twisted and tangled interlace, which comes from the rich Irish metalworking tradition, mesmerizes the eye almost everywhere. They’re called “carpet pages” for that very reason. ![]() There are whole pages filled with just a few letters so elaborately decorated that they more closely resemble intricately-woven carpets than text in a book. For example, a single capital letter might transform into an owl, or the word “ et” could become part rabbit. There are several illustrations of stylized human figures, but most of the decoration centers on the letters themselves. The Book of Kells contains pages and pages of intricate, colorful artwork. What makes the Book of Kells fascinating to so many people today – Meehan says that more than half a million people come to see it every year – is its incredibly dense and masterful decoration. Instead, the book is highly valued today as a work of art and a symbol of Irish cultural achievement. It contains the Latin texts of the four Christian gospels, but that’s actually its least noteworthy feature. The Book of Kells is a medieval illuminated manuscript handwritten and decorated by Irish monks living in the British Isles around 800 CE. I haven’t included many photos here, since the available Public Domain images aren’t of very high quality. Follow along with Trinity College Library’s complete digital facsimile of the manuscript. I can’t stand for people not to know about this great work of art, so let me explain what the Book of Kells is and why it’s so special. Questions like: “What is a Kell?” “Can you read Latin?” “Is that book full of strange gods?” I thought that everybody was familiar with the Book of Kells, but I now see that’s not true. I got some confused questions yesterday while unboxing my deluxe The Book of Kells by Bernard Meehan (London: Thames & Hudson, 2012). Trinity College Library, Dublin, Ireland. Irish (probably Iona, Scotland or Kells, Ireland), c. Learn About Art from the Comfort of Your Home.Be the Critic: How to Evaluate Museum Exhibitions.Part Two: Where and When Did Gargoyles Come From?. ![]()
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