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For a UNESCO City of Literature, it is, perhaps, no surprise that Dublin boasts some of the world’s most intriguing libraries.
Tucked into a little corner beside St Patrick’s Cathedral in the heart of the city, Marsh’s Library dates to the early 18th century. It was established by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, whose ambition was to give anyone who was able to read a place to study. Step into the library today, and you’ll be enveloped in a place that feels frozen in time. As Services Supervisor Oisin Marsh notes: “The atmosphere is so special, you get it the second you walk in: that smell of age, dust, leather and wood.”
Indeed, it’s hard to describe the feeling of being in Marsh’s with its hallowed galleries, old reading room and library cages where readers were once locked in to prevent the theft of precious manuscripts. Rare books fill the shelves, and the memory of famous readers of the past lingers in the air. Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, read at Marsh’s while he was a student at Trinity College and saw travel books with maps of Transylvania at the library, while other famous readers include James Joyce and Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver’s Travels. Visit here, and you never know what it might inspire in you.
Marsh's Library, Dublin
Need to know
The Library opening hours are 9.30am to 5pm Tuesdays to Fridays and 10am to 5pm Saturdays. Tickets for adults are €7 and can be purchased in advance online.
You can usually see some of Marsh’s rarest and most unusual books on display throughout the library.
Unfortunately, owing to the historic nature of the building, the library is not wheelchair accessible.
