Dublin days 4 & 5

St. Patrick's Park and Cathedral

One way to the classroom building downtown includes a walk through St. Patrick's Park next to St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is a great way to start the morning, and enjoy public spaces and sights the way that many who live in the city do. The next two days in Dublin contain striking examples of the history that is woven into the city, and how remarkable it is that this history appears on every street and around every corner.

Our plans for most weekdays are for classes to start the day, leaving afternoons and evenings of exploration. Days 4 & 5 here include profound experiences for us and the students: viewing the Book of Kells at Trinity College, and touring the Kilmainham Gaol prison.

Darci and Emi at the Book of Kells exhibit. 

The letter "D" as it is written in the Book of Kells

The Book of Kells is a 1200 year old manuscript of the Gospels written by 9th Century Irish monks. The combination of Celtic symbols, calligraphy, and illustrations make it one of the most famous examples of an illuminated manuscript, and one of the more popular tourist destinations in Dublin. The Book is housed at Trinity College, and the exhibit also includes a tour of the Trinity College library. It is the largest library in Ireland, and allegedly contains a copy of every book ever published in Ireland and England. The oldest of these books are in the Long Room, which is the most impressive and humbling library room I have ever been in. Everyone in our group agreed that visiting it will likely remain one of the highlights of the trip.

The Long Room in the Trinity College Library

Busts of famous philosophers line the Long Room. 

Only one student laughed when I said his name was pronounced "Arif-stotle" (referencing the spelling on the statue)

After class the next day we tour the Kilmainham Gaol prison, which famously housed Irish criminals, rebels, and revolutionaries since the 1790's. The stories of its prisoners are tragic and compelling. The highlights of the tour, and the main reason the jail is iconic, are the cells of the organizers of the Easter Rising of 1916. The organizers were held and executed here, inspiring the Revolution to come.

 The renowned Main Hall of the jail (it is featured in several movies)

A hall lined with 200 year-old cells. 

The lock on the cell of an executed Irish Revolutionary

One of the many interesting things about traveling around Dublin is that there are markers everywhere explaining the historical significance of events that happened where one is standing. For example, one of our favorite pubs is Arthur's in South Dublin (near the Guinness brewery), where we have landed several times for an end-of-the-day pint. Outside Arthur's near St. Catherine's Church is a marker commemorating the execution of Robert Emmet, who was hung where the marker is placed in 1803 for organizing an uprising against British rule (more than a century before the Easter Rising of 1916).

The marker of the location of Robert Emmet's execution

The fireplace mantle in Arthur's Pub. Two things worth noting: the death mask of Robert Emmet hanging in the center, and decades (maybe a century?) worth of wax drippings on the candle holders and mantle. 

Emmet is recognized as a hero for the Irish independence movement, and the speech he gave at his sentencing is often quoted, and inspired others in years to come:

Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance, asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then and not till then, let my epitaph be written. I have done.