The Book of Kells is a manuscript dating from around 800. It is also known as the Kells Gospel Book or St. Columns. The book is richly illuminated and considered one of the most important monuments of Irish Christianity, as well as one of the most beautiful medieval manuscripts. It is now in the Trinity College Library in Dublin, where two of the four volumes are exhibited at once - one shows pictures and the other shows typical text pages.
The manuscript contains the four Gospels of the New Testament with commentaries and introductory notes. The decorations combine traditional Christian iconography with motifs characteristic of island art. Here you can find symbolic numbers of people, animals and mythical beasts, intertwined with Celtic knots and patterns in vivid colors.
The Gospel Book was most likely written in a monastery on the island of Iona. It takes its name from the Abbey in Kells, where it was kept until the 17th century.
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