10 Things You Should Know About The Book Of Kells

The Book of Kells (also known as the Book of Columba) at Trinity College is arguably the most famous artifact on display in Dublin. You simply cannot visit Ireland’s capital without hearing about the Book of Kells. And quite rightly so. The Book of Kells, along with the Gospels of Lindisfarne and the Book of Durrow, is, in my opinion, one of the greatest contributions to medieval art ever to come from the British Isles. Here are ten facts about this ancient masterpiece that you should be aware of.

Table of Contents

1. How Large Is The Kells Book?

The Book of Kells measures 13 inches wide by 10 inches tall. It is made up of 340 calfskin vellum folios.

The Book of Kells, on the other hand, was thicker and larger in its original form. Thirty folios of the original manuscript were lost over the centuries, and the edges of the existing manuscript were severely trimmed during a nineteenth-century rebinding.

2. What Is In Kells’ Book?

The four Gospels make up the majority of the Book of Kells. The book also contains so-called canon tables, which are indexes of passages that appear in two or more of the Gospels. Each Gospel has a summary and a preface in addition to these tables.

Blank pages in the book were used to record property transactions at the monastery during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. A poem was added in the fifteenth century.

3. Where Did The Name Of The Book Of Kells Come From?

The book takes its title from the Kells monastery in County Meath, Ireland.

The book is thought to have been brought to Kells after a Viking raid on the monastery on the Scottish island of Iona in 806.

4. When Did The Book Of Kells Appear?

Scholars have been unable to determine where the book was created, but it was created sometime around the year 800.

The question is whether the book was started on Iona and finished in Kells, or if it was created entirely on Iona. Some scholars argue that the book has nothing to do with Iona and was written entirely in Kells.

5. Who Wrote Kells’ Book?

The Book of Kells was created by three different scribes and four artists. It’s unclear whether some of the scribes and artists are the same people.

6. How Did The Book Of Kells Come To Be?

This book is thought to have been created for display and ceremonial purposes rather than to be read aloud. The images are elaborate and detailed, whereas the text is carelessly copied, with entire words missing or long passages repeated.

7. What Is The Book’s Style?

The Book of Kells is written in the Hiberno-Saxon style.

The Hiberno-Saxon style, which debuted in the seventh century, combines the curvilinear motifs and elaborated initials of the Irish-Celtic tradition with Anglo-Saxon zoomorphic interlacing and bright coloring. Geometric design, large areas of color, and complicated interlaced patterns define the style.

8. Where Is The Book Of Kells?

The Kells monastery was destroyed in 1641.

The Book of Kells was brought to Dublin for safekeeping twelve years later, and it has been in the possession of Trinity College since at least 1661.

9. How Many People Have Read This Book?

The book has been on display in Trinity College’s Old Library since the mid-nineteenth century and receives approximately 500,000 visitors per year.

10. How Is It Currently Displayed?

The Book of Kells has been published in four volumes since 1953. Trinity College has two of these volumes on display. One book contains an illumination. The script is shown in the second volume.

Topic: 10 Things You Should Know About The Book Of Kells

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