Founded by royal charter in 1592 on the site of a former priory just outside the medieval walls, Trinity College Dublin is Ireland oldest university and one of its most beautiful campuses, a sequence of cobbled squares and stately buildings set in the very centre of the city. Modelled on the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, it began as a small Protestant foundation and grew into a leading international university while retaining the calm, enclosed character of an old academic precinct. The college has educated an extraordinary roll of figures, including the writers Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde and the Nobel laureate Samuel Beckett, the scientist and mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, the philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke and the former president Mary Robinson. Statues of Burke and the poet Oliver Goldsmith flank the main gate, and the campanile in Front Square is one of the most photographed landmarks in Dublin. For visitors the great draw is the Old Library, home to the ninth-century Book of Kells and the soaring Long Room, but the campus rewards exploration in its own right. Walking the squares, past the chapel, the examination hall and the eighteenth and nineteenth-century facades, gives a strong sense of three centuries of learning carried on in continuous use. The college is a working university, so visitors share the grounds with students hurrying between lectures, which lends the place a living atmosphere rather than that of a museum. Guided walking tours, often led by students, explain the history and point out details easily missed, while the surrounding streets put Grafton Street, the National Gallery and the river all within a few minutes walk. Free to enter and open through the day, the campus is one of the easiest and most rewarding stops in central Dublin. Whether visitors come for the Book of Kells, the architecture or simply a quiet cobbled escape from the traffic, Trinity offers a concentrated dose of the city intellectual and architectural heritage. The grounds are free to wander during daylight hours, and student-led walking tours, bookable on the day or in advance, add history and anecdote for those who want more than a quiet stroll. The main entrance opens directly onto College Green, with Grafton Street, the National Gallery and the river all close by, so the campus serves as both a destination and a natural crossing point in the heart of the city.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: College Green, Dublin, Ireland

Telephone: +353 1 896 1000

Website: https://www.tcd.ie

Opening Date: 01/01/1592