Trinity College

Address	Between Westmoreland and Grafton Street
Admission	Free, except for Book of Kells (€7.50)Walking Tour (€10- includes admission into Book of Kells)
Hours	Grounds are always open
Phone	+353-1-608-1000
Website	www.tcd.ie

Founded by Queen Elizabeth in 1592 as a way to “civilize” the Irish, Trinity College is Dublin’s oldest and most famous college. With 12,000 present day students, Trinity counts Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett and Jonathan Swift among its notable alumni. Sprawling across 40 grassy-green acres, the campus is made up of stone buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The grounds are always open and the only admission fee is to enter the Old Library, home to Ireland’s largest collection of books and the prized The Book of Kells. Meandering through the campus via cobblestone walkways will satisfy most tourists, but take The Trinity College Walking Tour if you thirst for additional University lore. The 30-minute student-led tour runs every 40 minutes daily from 10:15am – 3:40pm May-October and on weekends March-May. Meet at the Info Booth inside the front gate.

The Old Library, built in 1712, displays two of the four volumes of The Book of Kells. This manuscript was created in 800 A.D. by four Irish monks who used the ink from bugs and plants to colorfully illustrate this lavish edition of the gospels. Lines to see the illuminated manuscript are usually very long except in the morning, but those who pay for the campus tour can skip ahead in the line. Ireland’s oldest harp is hiding upstairs in the library’s main space, the Long Room, which measures a staggering 213 feet long and 42 feet wide.

Another structure worth noting is the slightly Gothic Graduates Memorial Building built in 1892. It is home to Trinity’s two fiercely competitive debate teams, the Philosophical and Historical Societies. Behind the cobblestone quadrangle of Parliament (or Front) Square, stands the old redbrick Rubrics that dates back to 1690. Now used as rooms for students and faculty, Rubrics is the oldest building still standing on campus.