How to find inspiration with the Book of Kells

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I went to Dublin on a pilgrimage to fulfill my lifelong heart's desire: to see the Book of Kells.

This 1,300-year-old treasure, one of the world's oldest books, is housed on the campus of Trinity College in Dublin. The book has its own building (with a gift shop, of course! I got a keychain and a calendar) not far from what's known as the Old Library, where it used to be stored.

My first stop on campus was to explore the Old Library. Being in any library is way to find inspiration. "I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library," wrote Jorge Luis Borges in his "Poem of the Gifts" in 1958.

This is what's known as the Long Room, located in Trinity College's Old Library. The globe at the end is called Gaia, and it turns. It's made from photographs of Earth taken by astronauts from space.

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A staircase in the Long Room, plus a few of the books stored in this fabulous place.

The Book of Kells was made around 800 AD by Columban monks on the Isle of Iona off the west coast of Scotland. The monks left due to Viking attacks, taking the precious illuminated manuscript with them. Their boats could have been swamped at any time in the stormy seas and their lives and the treasure they carried lost. 

They landed on the coast of Ireland and moved inland to avoid the Vikings, taking the manuscript to the Abbey of Kells in County Meath. But the book was stolen. It was later recovered, but the jewels and gold leaf that had been on the cover had been stripped off and have never been recovered. The manuscript was buried at one time and recovered. Finally, in1661, it was given to Trinity College in Dublin for safekeeping.

The book is only 10" x 13", so the work to illuminate corners and letters is incredibly fine.

I find inspiration in the artistry, the attention to detail. In writing a story, you have to have a big theme, and maybe some subthemes, but you must at the same time pay attention to the details. Did you say your character is wearing her hair in a braid? Then in the same scene her hair can't be flowing over her shoulders, unless you account for the change.

I've put books back on the shelf for this kind of carelessness, and I watch my own stories like a hawk for these errors.  

To help you find inspiration, here are a few photographs of details from the Book of Kells.

Here's a detail, magnified. I'm highly enamored of the dots.

This detail is in the corner of the page, to give you a sense of the incredibly fine work 

the monk illustrators did.

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Another detail, more delightful dots.

One final photo (with my camera making a shadow) that shows the loving, incredible work the illustrators did.

To find inspiration in more posts, see my post about the beautiful St. Chapelle in Paris and glorious, ancient libraries in Paris.

How about you? Do you find inspiration in this kind of art? Have you been to see the Book of Kells? Is it on your bucket list? 

What is on your bucket list, anyway? Comment below!