Chester Beatty Library

This museum of manuscripts is a bibliophile's and eastern art-lover's dream showcase of some of the most amazing ancient and medieval books collected in Europe

Feel cheated by your 10-second glimpse of the Book of Kells? Spend as long as you like studying the gorgeously illustrated and astoundingly well preserved ancient tomes in this cornucopia of medieval and ancient manuscripts from Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa.

This museum hits on all three counts: the richness of the collection itself, the sheer artistic quality of the pieces, and their astounding state of preservation.

In fact, many works that are 200, 500, 800, even 4,700+ years old look like they just came off the press last week.

It even has an excellent cafe. What's not to love?

The collections

Egyptian papyri (some as old as 1160 BC), early Biblical works, illutrated copies of the Qu'an, 14th century books of Persian poetry, 17th century European atlases.

There are amazing 350-year-old Japanese painted scrolls in mint condition.

Mughal paintings on paper

bookbinding samples from the 15th to the 20th century from Europe, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt.

Geography hounds will be dlighted to see a compelte set of the Joan Blaeu's famous Great Atlas (composed in 1622, when he was just 26 years old), and Gerardus Mercator's edition of Ptolomy's Geography (1584).

Tips

• Planning your time at the Chester Beatty Library: You may think you'll be in and out in 20 minutes, but give it a good hour or so. Plan to hit it around lunchtime so you can enjoy a meal in the museum's excellent Silk Road Cafe.
• Free tours of the Chester Beatty Library: There are hour-long tours provided, for free, Wednesdays at 1pm and Sundays at 3pm and 4pm.
• Commerical tours: Take a tour that includes a stop at the Chester Beatty Library with our partners at Viator.com:
  • Viking and Medieval Dublin Walking Tour
• Dublin Pass: Though the library is admission-free, if you have a Dublin Pass it will get you a free museum book plus 10% off in the museum's excellent Silk Road Cafe.
• The Silk Road Cafe: The little cafeteria serving appropriately Middle Eastern and Asian-inspired dishes at tables in, and just beside, the museum's atrium is so good (and such a great bargain) it gets its own write-up.