St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland

Ok, now back to my adventures.  I have been doing a lot of traveling, working and writing. I am hoping to have my first scientific publication out in 2012. =) 

On the afternoon of September 8th, I made my way back to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  Earlier that week I had tried to enter the church but it was after 5 pm and everything was closed. That adventure was posted on the blog titled "September 5th: Dublin, Ireland".  But this time I was there at 1pm so I had plenty of time.  This Thursday was a beautiful day with the sun shining and few clouds in the sky.  The gardens around the church and the church itself looked amazing.

I made my way around the church to the front entrance. Now some of you may not know but in some Churches like this one during viewing hours you have to pay an entrance fee usually about 5 euros or about $7. Honestly I do not mind because I believe a good portion of the money collected from the entrance fee is used to maintain the building.  Once inside the church I was aw struck by how large it was. There was even a small gift shop in the back corner of the church.


When you think about a huge cathedral you invasion beautiful cathedral ceilings, decorative walls and huge stain glass windows and that is exactly what I saw once inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

As I started to walk around the cathedral I started to notice the large amount of history on display in the cathedral. I have always had an interest in history and that is one of the many things I love about Europe, the unique history that the USA does not have.

IMAGE 1

These two granite stone was located in the vicinity of the church that was here before the Cathedral was built in 1192. When it was unearthed in 1901, the stone on the left [IMAGE 1]  covered the remains of an ancient well. It may have been the well where St. Patrick baptized converts in the fifth century.

IMAGE 2

The  second stone [IMAGE 2] probably marked the grave of an early Christian. Scholars believe the stones were carved some time between 800 and 1100. Where the stone was quarried remains a mystery. only 32 stones of this type have been found in Dublin; six are located in St. Patrick's Cathedral.





Through out the Cathedral I saw many statues many were of past Archbishops of Dublin.

 
Even the floor of the Cathedral was a decorative tile and there were decorative arches throughout the Cathedral. 

In the Cathedral there were many different historical artifacts one was a Carved Oak Chest created in the 14th Century. 

This chest was used to protect the Cathedral's vestments, silver and important legal documents from loss, theft, or being eaten by rodents. It is decorated with four carved panels depicting mythical beats on top, a stallion in the lower left and a goat in the bottom right.

In the front of the Cathedral there was a magnificent alter and choir area, it was amazing to see the unique architecture and beautiful stain glass.

On each side of the main alter are a small chapel area, each one had a unique name and style.

  

In St. Patrick's the Lady Chapel has played a unique role in welcoming believers of other denominations. Having the persecution in France in 1666 Huguenot refugees were grant used of the Lady Chapel for their services by the Dean and Chapter. The Huguenot exercised a very important influence on the cultural and commercial lid of the country. Services in French continues in the Lady Chapel until 1816.  For a few years, the Lady Chapel was used as a Chapter House. In 1845, Dean Henry Pakenham undertook restoration of the Lady Chapel which was conducted under the supervision of architect Richard C. Carpenter.

It was great to see such history and beautiful architecture. I really enjoyed learning all the history and took so many pictures and videos. After spending about 2 hours in the Cathedral, it was time for me to head back to the hotel and get ready to leave with my co-supervisor (St) to Kilkenny, Ireland.

September 8th: St. Ann's Church and Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

On September 8th, I was not interested in any of the talks for that day so I decided that I would rather look around Dublin.  Since the hotel I was staying at was near Trinity College, I decided to go there first. As I was walking towards Trinity College, I found something interesting.

I really liked how you can see such a unique and historic place in such a modern area.

St. Ann's Church in Dublin, Ireland

The architecture of the church was amazing to look at.

Before I could enter the church I actually had to cross quite a busy road. Once I entered the church I could no longer hear the sound of the cars passing by on the road. I was greeted by a really nice man, looking at him I thought his was the Father of the church. He said in a very thick Irish accent "No, I am just the caretaker." He asked me where I was from and told to go ahead a look around and take a few pictures and please put at least 2 euros in the offering box.

 

 Inside St. Ann's was a very beautiful church, I was impressed by the baptism fountain it looked as if it was made from one piece of marble.

The stain glass windows in St. Ann's were amazing. I tried to take a few pictures of the glass but many of the pictures did not turn out. I think I need to get photography lessons from my sister.  Some of the pictures of the stain glass did turn out and I was quite happy about that.

 What I thought was really interesting was that all along the walls there were many different plagues that stated the name, birth and death of the person that was buried there.  Some of these burials were quite odd and the plagues were unique.

 Upon making my way out of the church I found many different postcards. I asked the caretaker how much were the postcards, he kindly asked to just place more money in the offering box. I took four postcards and placed 5 euros in the offering box. The caretaker wished me well on my travels through Ireland. And I was off to find Trinity College again.

The reason why I wanted to go Trinity College was to see the Book of Kells and the Library.

The Book of Kells (sometimes known as the Book of Columba) is an illuminated manuscript Gospel book in Latin, containing the four Gospels of the New Testament together with various prefatory texts and tables. It was created by Celtic monks ca. 800 or slightly earlier. The text of the Gospels is largely drawn from the Vulgate, although it also includes several passages drawn from the earlier versions of the Bible known as the Vetus Latina. It is a masterwork of Western calligraphy and represents the pinnacle of Insular illumination. It is also widely regarded as Ireland's finest national treasure. 

 

Now once I entered the Trinity College Library I was sad to see a big sign that said NO pictures or video. Sigh...so I put my camera away and just read all the information and looked at all the cool pictures.  I was able to see in person the Book of Kells, under thick glass.  When you actually see the Book of Kells itself it is truly beautiful and colorful.  Of course I could not take pictures but I found some pictures on the internet for you to get an idea of what I saw.

Can you imagine in ca. 800 a monk might of spent days or months making this?

The color and the writing were amazing to see. I was glad to see the Book was in really good shape.

 After viewing the Book of Kells there were stairs leading up to the Library.  I was thinking 'Well it is just a library so there is nothing spectacular about it'.  WOW... was I wrong! When I got up to the Library my jaw hit the floor, the Library was absolutely amazing.  I really wanted to take a picture but sigh.. no pictures allowed.  But even if I could take a picture .. no picture I took would do the Library justice.  I could only imagine the amount of history and knowledge in all the books in the Library. For a while I sat on a small bench and just took in the awesomeness of this place because once I get to the other side of Library I will have to walk out the exit. 

While in this Library I was so happy to be able to see a place like this. To be able to say to others in the world that I have been to place that holds so much knowledge, history and just unparalleled awesomeness.  Other people in the Library might of thought I was crazy because I just sat there with a huge smile on my face and my eyes as big as saucers; just looking at the high ceilings, the shelves of books, the unique staircases, the relics in the glass displays, and the busts of statues. I really did not want to leave but sigh... I left after being in the Library for about an hour.

Once out of the Library, I was so happy to find postcards of the Library. The postcards were professional pictures and I could easily scan these postcards to have my own digital copy of these pictures.

I am really glad I was able to see St. Anne's Church, Book of Kells and the Library. Each place was just as grand and beautiful as the next. But there still was one more place I had to go, St. Patrick's Cathedral. After having a relaxing lunch at a cafe in Dublin I made my way to the the Cathedral.