What is the Book of Kells?
One of the greatest Irish National treasures, the book of Kells is one of the most famous manuscripts in Ireland. Produced from the late 6th Century to the early 9th Century these manuscripts survived one of the most difficult times for humanity, The Dark Ages. In fact, no one knows how it did survive the Viking raids but the truth its that we have it here now.
Such an old book has seen a lot through the ages, but the questions are. What it contains inside? What it makes so interesting? Why is it so important for the culture of the island and Catholicism?
If we could choose we would probably go first for the magnificent illustrations made by the monks of the monasteries that the book has gone through. These very well defined and colored scriptures can catch the glimpse of anyone that comes through.
As its contents, it hosts the entire four gospels of the New Testament of the bible, narrating from Saint Matthew to Saint John. So you can see the importance of this book for the Christian Faith.
But where it originated? To this day, nobody knows. There are certain theories about it but the most common ones are that it could have been produced in the Abbey of Kells, where the name of the book comes from, or from the Iona Abbey. Some even say that it’s actually a Manuscript coming from England.
If you want to gaze at this magnificent piece of history, The Book of Kells is currently on display at Trinity College Library in Dublin.
