The Long Room at Trinity College Dublin stretches 65 metres and holds 200,000 of the li…

The Long Room at Trinity College Dublin stretches 65 metres and holds 200,000 of the library’s oldest books in towering oak shelves lined with marble busts of philosophers and writers. It was built between 1712 and 1732 with a flat ceiling, but by the 1850s the shelves were full because Trinity had the legal right to a copy of every book published in Britain and Ireland, so the roof was raised to accommodate an upper gallery, creating the famous barrel-vaulted ceiling you see today. It houses the Brian Boru harp, the oldest surviving Gaelic harp and the model for Ireland’s national symbol, and one of the last remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation. Downstairs sits the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript created by monks around 800 AD, probably on the island of Iona before being brought to Ireland to escape Viking raids. George Lucas modelled the Jedi Archives in Star Wars on the Long Room, though Trinity turned down his request to actually film there.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​