Irish Manuscripts Return Home After 1,000 Years: Exhibition in Dublin

More than 1,000 years ago, Irish monks transported precious manuscripts to continental Europe. This was done to shield them from Viking raids and to propagate Christianity and scholarship. Now, fragments of that trove are returning to Ireland for the first time. \Switzerland's Abbey of Saint Gall is lending 17 manuscripts to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. This is for an exhibition recreating Ireland's golden age as the "land of saints and scholars." The exhibition is titled Words on the Wave: Ireland and St Gallen in Early Medieval Europe.\The exhibition aims to "retrace those journeys and the world in which those manuscripts were produced." According to curator Matthew Seaver, these books are key to understanding Ireland's language and links with the continent. The exhibition coincides with challenges to international trade and European unity.\After Ireland converted to Christianity, monasteries became centers of learning. They produced academic and religious manuscripts, including the oldest surviving copy of Etymologiae. Scribes also recorded comments about their daily lives in grammar books, revealing humor and frustration.\Taking manuscripts to the continent was a response to the Viking threat and cultural exchange. Saint Columba, also known as Columbanus, established monasteries in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms. The National Museum of Ireland will display the books with over 100 artifacts, including the Lough Kinale Book Shrine.