2014 will see the celebration of an important medieval milestone in the Long Room of Trinity College Dublin: the one thousandth anniversary of the Battle of Clontarf.
In the popular imagination that battle was the culmination of a long war between Viking invaders/settlers and the most powerful of all Irish kings, Brian Boru. The historical reality was not so simple, and both the history and the legend of Brian will be examined in a new exhibition: Emperor of the Irish.
Pride of place in this unique exhibition will be given to the only item known to have been in Brian’s presence, the famous 9th-century decorated manuscript known as the Book of Armagh.
The exhibition will include some of the Library’s greatest medieval Irish treasures such as the Book of Leinster and the Brian Boru harp. The display will incorporate large-scale graphics designed by Cartoon Saloon (producers of the Academy Award nominated animated film The Secret of Kells), which have been inspired by the exhibition’s themes.
