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What it is : An illuminated manuscript of the four Christian evangel , made in the 9th century
Where it is from : The island of Iona in Scotland ’s Inner Hebridean Isles
Monks from Celtic Britain wrote and illustrated the Book of Kells in the early ninth century.
When it was made : About 1,200 old age ago
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What it say us about the yesteryear :
The Book of Kells is a big illuminated manuscript — a handwritten and intemperately illustrated document ornamented with paint made from gold and silver . It was made at the source of the ninth century , probably byCeltic Christian monks on the island of Ionain Scotland ’s Inner Hebrides .
The manuscript dwell of the four Christian gospels write in Latin and is famed for its rich illustrations and virtuoso calligraphy , which escort from a time before the design of printing process .
Books at this meter had to be painstakingly copied by hand , a job often perform by teams of monks . Experts think the Book of Kells was created on Iona in this manner in about A.D. 800 by monks pay to the sixth - century Irish missionary St Columba , who is credited with spreading Christianity throughout Scotland .
But the British coastline wasprey to Viking raidsat this prison term , and dozens of Monk had already been killed in raids on isolated islands like Iona andLindisfarne .
In the early 800s , the Thelonious Sphere Monk on Iona relocated to Ireland to debar such fire — and they took the manuscript with them . It was then house for centuries at a monastery in the Irish town of Kells , where it got its name . But it was sent to Dublin for safekeeping during Oliver Cromwell ’s conquest of Ireland from 1649 until 1653 .
In 1661 , the Book of Kells was donate to the library of Trinity College Dublin , and it isstill on display theretoday ; the college has also madea digitized version .
The Book of Kells is considered the ok example of the"Insular " style of illuminated manuscripts — from the Romance word for island , the island being Gaelic Britain — that were bring forth in Ireland and Britain during the post - Roman menstruum .
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Insular manuscripts are characterized by their elaborated initial letters , and are often extremely beautify with fanciful design of legendary animate being and Celtic motif .
The Book of Kells manuscript is drop a line on vellum — ordinarily prepared by scraping calf skin — and spans 680 pages that experts think were written by at least three different Thelonious Monk .
Some of the page are miss , maybe because of a thieving in the 11th C , but it is remarkably complete for a textual matter that is so old .
