Art, The book of Kells

This is something I have wanted to do for a while but it has never fitted into a 'theme', so now this is the perfect oportunity, this is rather late for 'Art Sunday' but i decided to post any way;

The Book of Kells is one of the best, if not THE best, example of a Gospel manuscript written between the late sixth and early ninth century. These manuscripts were written in the Monasteries of Scotland, Northern England, and Ireland. The Book of Kells is believed to be from the latter part of this period when these beautiful artistic manuscripts were at their peak. The manuscripts have been loosely grouped together based on their artistic style, script, and textual traditions. Other surviving examples are the Cathach of St. Columba, the Book of Durrow, the Durham Gospels, Lindisfarne Gospels, and the Macregal Gospels.


The name for the Book of Kells come from the Abbey of Kells in Kells, County Meath in Ireland where it was kept between about the eleventh and seventeenth centuries. It was removed from there and relocated to Dublin for safekeeping when Cromwell’s cavalry was quartered in the church. In 1661, the book was presented to Trinity College in Dublin where it has remained. The book has been re-bound a number of times and exists today in four volumes after a re-binding in 1953.



The place, where the Book of Kells was originally created is not known with certainty, but tradition places its origin firmly on the Scottish island of Iona.  It’s thought that the manuscript was painstakingly hand drawn and coloured by the Monks of Iona Monastery, and later brought to Kells Abbey in Ireland.  The monks of Iona moved to Kells in order to escape Viking raids at Iona and it’s believed they took this manuscript with them to safeguard it from the Vikings.



This manuscript remains unfinished which makes its history even more difficult to pinpoint with accuracy. All that is known for certain is that, along with all other manuscripts of this era the whole thing was laboriously drawn and coloured by hand by the Monks.

delete reply greenwytch wrote on Sep 16, '08 oh, it's just beautiful! it's always a good time for art, don't you think? thank you so much for sharing this beauty, loretta. HUGS

delete reply wickedlyinnocent wrote on Sep 10, '08 I've seen the Book of Kells at Trinity College, what a treasure it is. Thanks for the great blog, hugs.

delete reply hedgewitch9 wrote on Sep 9, '08 Wonderful posting Loretta! Love from your fellow Celt lol ;))

delete reply brendainmad wrote on Sep 9, '08 How beautiful! And you can say you're early for 'Art Sunday'. Wonderful presentation as always.

delete reply starfishred wrote on Sep 9, '08 Very nice blog loretta glad you did it

delete reply veryfrank wrote on Sep 8, '08 I have a recollection of seeing two volumes of the Book of Kells at the Trinity College Library. I wrote a note in the margin of a tour book, it indicates that it is also known as the Book of Columba. But then it is an old note and an old recollection. There is a marvelous presence about it. As Donna said, I can picture the monks at their labors.

delete reply acousticeagle wrote on Sep 8, '08 I remember studying Gothic art in high school, and other art styles throughout history and finding all that fascinating. You have to marvel at the charactertures of the faces, and how when they draw the baby Jesus, for example, he is portrayed as a miniature 'man' rather than an ordinary human baby with normal baby proportions - but that was the art style of that era. One can just imagine those robed monks sitting in cold rooms with poor light and doing their labours of love. Incredible!