TCD could help Kells to live by the book

KELLS Heritage Centre in Co Meath has closed due to financial constraints and its future is uncertain.

But if Trinity College Dublin committed to providing Kells with a volume of the famous Book of Kells for the main tourist season next year, it would ensure the reopening and survival of our centre.

Since 1953 the Book of Kells has been bound in four volumes. Two volumes are on public view in Trinity, one opened to display a major decorated page and the other to show two pages of script. Approximately 500,000 people pay Trinity College to see the book each year. The heritage of Kells is a cash cow for Trinity and, as such, I am not naive enough to ask them to return the book in its entirety.

If this simple gesture was made by Trinity it would ensure the history of Kells town lived on. Indeed, as only two of the four volumes of the book are on display at any one time, it is difficult to see why not.

Kells is world renowned and deserves a centre wherein its past can be celebrated and shared. Hence, I ask Trinity to return just a section of what essentially belongs to Kells to ensure the survival of tourism in our town.

Sarah Reilly

Bective Place

Kells

Co Meath