Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [57]
Officially, the university’s name is the University of Dublin, but Trinity is its sole college. Its charter was granted by Elizabeth I in 1592 – on grounds confiscated from an Augustinian priory that was dissolved in 1537 – with the hope that young Dubliners would desist from skipping across to Continental Europe for their education and becoming ‘infected with popery’. The 16-hectare site is now in the centre of the city, but when it was founded it was described as ‘near Dublin’ and was bordered on two sides by the estuary of the River Liffey. Nothing now remains of the original Elizabethan college, which was replaced in the Georgian building frenzy of the 18th century. The most significant change, however, is the student population: the university was exclusively Protestant until 1793, but today most of its 15,000-odd students are Catholic (although until 1970 their own church forbade them from attending on pain of excommunication). All of this would surely have horrified Archbishop Ussher, one of the college’s founders, whose greatest scientific feat was the precise dating of the act of creation to 4004 BC. (Darwin, Schmarwin.)
Facing College Green, the Front Gate (Regent House entrance) to the college grounds was built between 1752 and 1759 and is guarded by statues of the poet Oliver Goldsmith (1730–74) and the orator Edmund Burke (1729–97). The summer walking tours of the college depart from here.
The open area reached from Regent House is divided into Front Sq, Parliament Sq and Library Sq. The area is dominated by the 30m-high Campanile, designed by Edward Lanyon and erected between 1852 and 1853 on what was believed to be the centre of the monastery that preceded the college. To the left of the Campanile is a statue of George Salmon, college provost from 1888 to 1904, who fought bitterly to keep women out of the college. He carried out his threat to permit them ‘over my dead body’ by promptly dropping dead when the worst came to pass.
Clockwise round Front Sq from the Front Gate, the first building is the chapel ( 896 1260; Front Sq; admission free), built in 1798 to plans made in 1777 by the architect Sir William Chambers (1723–96) and, since 1972, open to all denominations. It’s noted for its extremely fine plasterwork by Michael Stapleton, its Ionic columns and its painted (rather than stained-glass) windows. The main window is dedicated to Archbishop Ussher.
Next to the chapel is the dining hall (Parliament Sq; closed to public), originally designed in 1743 by Richard Cassels (aka Castle) but dismantled 15 years later because of problems caused by inadequate foundations. The replacement was completed in 1761 and may have retained some elements of the original design. It was extensively restored after a fire in 1984.
The 1892 Graduates’ Memorial Building (Botany Bay; closed to public) forms the northern side of Library Sq. North of it are tennis courts in the open area known as Botany Bay. The legend behind this name is that the unruly students housed around the square were suitable candidates for the British penal colony at Botany Bay in Australia.
At the eastern side of Library Sq, the red-brick Rubrics Building dates from around 1690, making it the oldest building in the college. It was extensively altered in an 1894 restoration and then underwent major structural modifications in the 1970s.
To the south of the square is the Old Library ( 896 2320; Library Sq), built in a rather severe style by Thomas Burgh between 1712 and 1732. Despite Ireland’s independence, the Library Act of 1801 still entitles Trinity College Library, along with four libraries in Britain, to a free copy of every book published in the UK. Housing this bounty requires nearly another