About the Book of Kells

"The Work Not of Men but of Angels…" (Giraldus Cambrensis, c.1150 AD)

The Book of Kells is one of the most famous books in the history of the world and was completed in about 800 AD.

The vellum (calfskin) manuscript contains transcriptions of the four Gospels, lavishly illustrated and ornamented. It is the most elaborate manuscript of its kind to survive from the early Middle Ages.

The scribes and artists who created the Book were Columban monks who lived in a monastery on the remote island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. The monastery was founded late in the sixth century by an Irish monk, St Colm Cille.

At the time the book was produced, Irish monks were renowned throughout the rest of Europe for their work as scribes and illustrators.

The Book of Kells contains 680 pages (or 340 folios). Just two of the pages are without ornament, while about thirty folios, including some major decorated pages, have been lost. The Book is the most famous manuscript in the Library of Trinity College Dublin where it is permanently on display.