A Little Luck of the Irish

Trinity College Old Library Long Room

Trinity College in Dublin is famous for housing the Book of Kells, but what impressed me more was the Old Library Long Room. It was built between 1712 and 1732 and houses over 200,000 rare books.  Lining the center isle are covered displays showing books of all kinds and artifacts from the library’s history. One of the displays shows the dye and color pigment they would have used to make the Book of Kells. Its enormously high ceiling and shelves after shelves of books is quite beautiful in a sense. Architect Thomas Burgh constructed the building in the Georgian architectural style. The Long Room measures 209 ft 3 in long and 40 ft 3 in wide. He specially designed oak bookshelves to be perpendicular to the long walls as to allow as much natural light as possible to enter the chamber. In 1801, the library was given the rights to a free volume of every book published in Britain and Ireland. Soon after the bookshelves became full and more space was needed. In 1856, Benjamin Woodward and Sir Thomas Deane were hired to work together and create more space in the building. To add an upper gallery of bookcases they barrel-vaulted the ceiling. The renovation cost the college 7,250 pounds in 1859. The Long Room is an amazing thing to see and I even happened to find my name on one of the statues in the room. That doesn’t normally happen a lot for me.  The spiral staircase in the corner was also pretty impressive. Unfortunately everything is roped off for its own preservation. So as I walked along I just did my best to take in the exceptional library the best I could.

The Golden Globe

Sitting in front of the Berkeley Library is the sculpture titled, “Sphere within a Sphere.” It was created by Arnaldo Pomodoro in 1982 and given as a gift to Trinity College. Some people refer to it as the “Death Star,” but I myself call it the Golden Globe. The geometrically shaped sculpture is a 3D sphere that sits on a raised square platform. As its name says, it is a sphere inside of another sphere. The sculpture is made to have open spots on the outermost sphere so people can see the inner sphere. The values and shades between the shiny golden color and the dark shadows cast throughout the spheres gives me a transforming technological vibe to me. The shiny golden color comes from the sculpture being made of bronze. Italian sculptor Pomodoro did a great job with this piece of art. I found this globe to be rather intriguing as we saw it on our walking tour. I’m sure the students who attend the school barely even notice it anymore but it definitely adds a nice touch to the beautiful Trinity College Campus.

Céad Míle Fáilte

A hundred thousand welcomes in Irish is Céad Míle Fáilte. The Cliffs of Moher welcomes anyone who wants to experience the astounding beauty of these cliffs. I noticed first on arrival an interestingly carved wooden statue representing the Cliffs of Moher. At the top sits a castle and as you peer at the statue I start to notice the little things the artist added to it. Two birds which I assume are puffins sit on one side, a little fisher man sits in a little niche carved near the top, at the bottom a huge wave is taking off with a surfer riding it out, and of course multiple ridges throughout it representing the cliffs. The actual texture of the sculpture is roughly smooth. Its rough because he carved so much into it but he smoothed over his sharp edges because he knew people would be touching and leaning on it. How deep he carved into it in certain spots allows shadows to fall certain ways creating lighter and darker spots on the wood. Unfortunately I could not find the artist or any history on this sculpture. It definitely adds a bit of artwork to the cliffs site.

Cill Chainnigh

Saint Canice’s Cathedral and Round Tower

St. Canice’s Cathedral is located in the town of Kilkenny. It stands on a site where Christian worship has taken place since the 6^th century. The Irish version of Cill Chainnigh translates into “Church of Cainneach” or “Canice.” The first church on this site was made of wood, only to be replaced later during the medieval period with a romanesque-style stone church. Today’s current cathedral was built using an English Gothic style of architecture. The round tower beside the cathedral is 100ft high and may have once been used as a watchtower and a refuge. The only way to the top is by a steep set of internal ladders. The space inside is tight and narrow and the top has limited space so only 14 people at a time are allowed up. A clear view of Kilkenny and surrounding countryside can be seen from the top. Its almost like climbing to the top of a very narrow and very high tree house. 

 

Pink

One of the art pieces in the museum we went to is called, “Invitation to Love.” The artist’s name is Magnhild Opdol. This specific artwork of hers consists of 299 pink cardboard donut boxes stacked in the middle of the room. As I looked at the boxes, many things popped in my head, but it represents how much people consume all the time without knowing how much trash they produce. One of the struggles is keeping people viewing it from touching it. One of the donut boxes had the flap untucked because someone had opened the box looking inside. I found this piece interesting and simple. I liked the color of all the boxes though.

 

Bambi

Part of artist Magnhild Opdol’s artwork is a small baby deer. The title is called “Fawn.” It is a small bronze replica of the Disney character Bambi. Opdol has a facination for deer and this tiny Bambi is placed looking at a picture of a group of deer. It represents the fact that the little bronze deer is longing to be with the deer in the picture, but there is no way for him to get there. This was my favorite piece because I just found the little guy adorable. He literally is a mold of a Bambi happy meal toy coated in bronze. Its funny how coating a child’s toy can make something look classy and sophisticated. The shining bronze Bambi is in a room full of pictures of other deer, but I was drawn immediately to the little fawn.

Kerry Weekend...

Blarney Castle

         *When Cormac McCarthy was King of Munster, he sent five thousand men to assist Robert the Bruce in his defeat of the English at Bannockburn in 1314. Legend has it that the king presented half of the Stone of Scone as a gift to McCarthy in gratitude. This half of stone is now known as the infamous Blarney Stone. Dermot McCarthy built the Blarney Castle in 1446 with the stone built into the castle where it can now be kissed. For over 200 years, people have been climbing the steps to kiss the Blarney Stone to gain the gift of eloquence. In the past, people were held by their ankles and lowered head first to kiss the stone. Today, one sits and leans backward while holding onto an iron railing to kiss the stone. The load-bearing construction system was used to build Blarney castle since each stone had to be stacked to form the castle. The Blarney Castle is a romantic style shell system castle with a tower on one side. As you ascend the tower, the steeper and narrower it gets. People with claustrophobia would not like this. As the walls around you seem to get closer and closer the stairs just keep winding farther and farther up. Along the way though there are different rooms. One room had a Murder Hole in it. Murder Holes were made to shoot arrows down or pour boiling liquids over the tops of unwelcomed visitors. The windows in the tower were tiny slits in the stone that you could barely look out of. After I kissed the stone and descended down another set of stairs that were much wider and less claustrophobic. The castle is an amazing structure to see although it has become more touristy in the past few years because of the Blarney Stone.

About to kiss the Blarney Stone

Blowin' Kisses After the Stone

 

Ross Castle

         *Built by O’Donoghue Mor in the 15^th century, Ross Castle sits on the edge of Killarney’s lower lake. Legend has it that O’Donoghue was sucked from the upper window into the lake, along with his horse and is in a deep sleep under the waters of Lough Leane keeping an eye on things. Every seven years on the first morning of May, he rises from the lake on his white horse and circles the lake. If anyone catches a glimpse of him they are to have good fortune for the rest of their lives. Ross Castle was the last stronghold in Munster to hold out against Cromwell, although General Ludlow took it in 1652. Ross Castle is one of Ireland’s best medieval Irish Chieftain strongholds. The castle is a shell system that used load-bearing construction. The builders of the castle had to stack and pile each stone to build Ross Castle. Layer upon layer of stone until finally they had a castle. Windows near the bottom of the castle were just thin vertical slits to prevent intruders trying to get in but at the same time allowing people inside to aim and fire guns at attackers. The top windows were larger to allow light inside. Although I enjoyed visiting Ross Castle, the day we went was quite chilly with the wind and we were on a time crunch, so it made it a little harder to enjoy the incredible castle.

Lough Leane Lake

 

CastleRoss Hotel

         *Our weekend trip to Killarney involved us lodging at the Castlerosse Hotel. It was built in 1960 by Beatrice Grosvenor, on the site where the Royal Victoria Hotel stood in the 19^th century. Lady Grosvenor past away in 1985 and the hotel was acquired by its present owner. It has its own pub in the hotel called Mulligan’s Pub, which has great live music every night. On Friday night, the gentleman singing gave us Georgia girls a shout out and played our song of the trip, “Galway Girl.” The Grosvenor Restaurant is where we ate breakfast and dinner while we stayed there. The view as you sit and eat is amazing as you look out over the Lakes of Killarney and Magillicuddy Reeks, Ireland’s highest mountain range. The breakfast was buffet and the dinners were plated. I truly enjoyed the plated dinners because each dish they serve is a masterpiece. The way I see it is you eat the food with your eyes before you ever taste it. So if it looks bad, you’re not going to want to eat it. Not only do chefs have to make sure it tastes good but they have to make the dishes colorful and appealing. The parsley leave added to the plates is for decoration to add another pop of color to the plate. The actual texture of the food is important as well. When the sauce around the pasta bake is lumpy and misshapen people might be hesitant but if its smooth and creamy, they’ll dig right in. Just think if the apple pie wasn’t frosted with powdered sugar and didn’t have that bit of cream and mint how plain and boring it would look. Creating culinary dishes is an artwork and the hotel chefs did wonderful, as everything tasted delightful!