Come in and visit us for a tour of the Old Library before it closes for redevelopment in 2023 and we’ll tell you the plans for 2026 and beyond. About the Old Library, Trinity College Dublin The main library of Trinity College until the 1960’s, the Old Library building is home to over 200,000 of the Library’s oldest books as well as the world renowned Book of Kells. This imposing building is the masterpiece of Thomas Burgh (1670-1730), chief engineer and surveyor-general of Ireland and it has undergone two major adaptions since its completion in 1732. Originally, the main chamber of the Library was placed over an open ground floor arcade as a precaution against damp. In 1892 this was filled in to make more shelf space for books. The jewel in the Old Library’s crown is undoubtedly the Long Room, regarded by many as Ireland’s most beautiful interior. Alterations by architects Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward in 1860 saw the Long Room’s flat plaster ceiling replaced with a barrel-vault and in the words of Professor Edward McParland “what had been superb, they made sublime”.