The Long Room, Trinity College Library in 1858, before the addition of the barrel-vaulted roof, courtesy @archiseek Twitter

10 comments

1. Never knew that.

2. “I hate to say it but, it looks like the [flat ceiling] you’re searching for doesn’t exist.”

3. Something something, fucking Star Wars something something

4. They stole that from Star Wars

5. I believe it’s a while before coming back.

6. My grandmother still chuckles about bringing me there in the early 90s, because apparently a pre-schooler yelling, “WOWWW! It’s like Beauty and the Beast!” doesn’t totally fit the ambience. It *is* impressive in fairness. Barrel ceiling was a definite upgrade, I never knew it was a later addition.

7. That’s not the only change. The ground floor was originally an open arcade before they quickly discovered that Irish weather and an open ground floor do not make for good conditions for a library.

   (The official line is that they needed more shelf space)

8. Hard not to read @archiseek as @arsecheek

9. Wonder what they have in those books. They must hold some content and not purely cosmetic.

10. What a glow up