Full disclosure: I am a sceptic of "digital experiences". Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer my museums to tend more towards curiosity cabinets than light shows.
I must admit that I was wary when I heard about Trinity College's latest addition to their tourism offering.
The Book of Kells Experience encompasses a visit to the Book of Kells exhibition (manuscript included), access to the Long Room of the Old Library, and a new immersive digital experience.
Before I visited, I had visions of gaudy projections eager to create an Instagram tourist hotspot. I was pleasantly surprised to find I was wrong.
The Book of Kells Experience is, in reality, a wonderful blend of technology and storytelling which rejuvenates the current exhibition and adds context as to why this medieval manuscript is one of the jewels in the crown of Irish heritage.
The new experience is borne from the Old Library Redevelopment Project, which aims to preserve the eighteenth-century building and its vast collection of books which are vulnerable to pollution, dust accumulation, and fire. The preservation work and modern upgrades to the library intend to combat these risks, but this conservation does not mean total closure as Trinity has created an innovative opportunity from the redevelopment - culminating in this new experience.
My visit began in the exhibition space, which tells the story of the Book of Kells. If you have previously visited the exhibit, there is nothing really new for you here, but the space is due for redesign at a later stage of the redevelopment project.
We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
It still provides some much needed background for the next stage of the visit: The Treasury.
In the centre of this dark room sits the Book of Kells in a protective glass cabinet. Two pages of the book are open, and they are all visitors can see of the book on any given day. The pages are changed several times a year on an undisclosed date, adding even further mystery to a manuscript with debatable origins.
After the Treasury, it's on to the Long Room. It is for good reason that this library is popularly classed as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world. The high ceiling and the upper gallery of books, combined with the lower gallery lined by marble busts is awesome in the truest meaning of the word.
As part of the redevelopment, however, the shelves which are usually bursting are almost empty of their 200,000 books. The collection has been decanted for conservation purposes, but you won’t be left disappointed. At the end of the Long Room floats Gaia, an illuminated replica of earth reproduced through NASA’s images. This installation by Luke Jerram ensures the Long Room does not lose its ability to stun its visitors and I observed a few utterances of 'wow’ and ‘oh’ as people entered.
Even though I had seen photos of the installation, I was still struck by the contrast between the bright greens and blues of earth and the dark, broody wood of the library. Gaia is both at home and totally out of place in the Long Room. I didn’t even notice the lack of books.
Gaia isn’t the only trade-off for empty shelves made by Trinity. Instead of an apology notice for the conservation work, the opportunity is taken to make the process an exhibit in itself. A series of large screens depict the conservation of the library’s collection, from the careful removal of dust to the tagging of individual books. I never imagined I would be so fascinated watching a person use a tiny vacuum on a book, and yet I was transfixed.
It was around this time when I started to appreciate that the Book of Kells Experience wasn’t just an attempt to dazzle me with technology. This element in particular has clearly been carefully considered to show how the Long Room is part of a working library, and not just a pretty face. Even so, the library will be sorely missed as part of the visit when this building is closed for renovations scheduled to begin at the end of 2025. But fear not - the Book of Kells will still be on display during that time in a temporary location.
Its short-term home will be near the new immersive element of the experience, which was where I headed after the library. You don’t have to worry about finding the new building, as this giant red box dominates New Square on the campus. It is itself a temporary structure, with this aspect of the experience only intended to last at this location for five years.
The first stop in this building is entitled The Secret Life of the Collection, which extracts lesser-known treasures in the library’s possession and projects them through gorgeous illustrations and text. This segment gives collections like the Cuala Press a chance to share the spotlight.
We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
A series of QR codes allow visitors to learn even more about the library’s holdings, like their edition of Shakespeare’s First Folio or the 1641 Depositions. This section is in direct dialogue with the conservation work as it takes the opportunity to bring to life the stories that have been gathering dust on the shelves. The Secret Life room also highlights other features of the collection, with one space representing the musical holdings (hang around to be treated to a tune).
Another alcove hosts a set of well-scripted statues that blink and chat in a way their marble counterparts could only dream of. I lingered for a while to eavesdrop on the conversations between these eight reconstructed busts from the Long Room; after Rosalind Franklin finished telling Isacc Newton about her work on DNA, Mary Wollstonecraft made sure to let them know that it clearly benefits everyone to educate women. Socrates then told us all to keep questioning the world. A good talk, I would say.
I was most intrigued to see the Book of Kells 360 room. As a student I worked for a summer at the exhibition and I directed countless tourists in their search to see the famous manuscript. While the Book of Kells is regularly cited as a must-see attraction for those visiting Dubin, tourists often asked where they could find ‘Kelly’s Book’ or the ‘Book of Shells’, among other variations. I even remember the occasional individual completely missing the book altogether, and not realising until they were at the exit! While everyone seemed to know the book was important, not everyone was sure why that was the case. This is where my last grain of scepticism about digital experiences really crumbled.
The 360 room was not just a few TV screens with a booming narrator. Instead, the story and visuals of the Book of Kells washed over me, and the artistry and beauty in the book were impressed upon me in a way I hadn’t fully appreciated before. This element really achieved what panels and panels of information could not.
The final part of the experience comes in a similar format, but for the Long Room. While I am not sure it could ever replace the real deal, it is visually very impressive. I was torn between filming or enjoying it for the duration. Maybe I’d sit in the room longer and do both if I had the time.
The Book of Kells Experience impressed me with its storytelling. I came away from the visit with an understanding of the library and the Book of Kells as so much more than a tourist attraction. The redevelopment project has provided an opportunity to tell a different and more expansive story of the Old Library and the many tales it contains.
For all my fellow digital sceptics, try this experience as a possible antidote.
Find out more about the Book Of Kells Experience here.
