In every corner of the city you can breathe the love and power of the word, but there are some places where you really have the feeling of being able to immerse yourself in the history of a country that had to fight for independence from Great Britain for a long time and where linguistic conflict has also been one of the main themes of all literature.

The Trinity College Library

Taking a walk through the shelves of the Trinity College library means retracing the steps of some of Ireland’s best-known intellectuals, but also entering the film set of some scenes from “Harry Potter”. It is the largest library in the country, with millions and millions of books: it was built in the eighteenth century, between 1712 and 1732, and, starting in 1801, receives a copy of every volume that is published in Great Britain and Ireland, thus feeding the colossal collection. In addition to the vast variety of literary genres and books from every era, the library houses the “Book of Kells”, a Latin manuscript of the four Gospels richly decorated with miniatures and illustrations of the Celtic tradition, dating back to around 800 AD.

Temple Bar Book Market

Every Saturday in the Temple Bar district there is a market of new and used books, where novels, art books, rare biographies and many other treasures are sold. All fans of old books, first editions and independent bookstores will find their dimension here, surrounded by a bohemian atmosphere not far from those of the bouquinistes of the Seine in Paris.

MoLI – Museum of Irish Literature

From the desire to showcase the collection of Joyce’s works and treasures present at the National Library of Ireland in a privileged space, at Newman House – where the writer himself spent his days when he was a student at University College Dublin (UCD) – the MoLI, the Museum of Irish Literature, was inaugurated in September 2019. The acronym of the museum itself refers to Joyce, in particular to one of its most famous characters, Molly Bloom, the only female protagonist of “Ulysses”, a work of which the very first copy is kept here.

Other interesting finds include entire notebooks of handwritten notes by the author and curious letters, including one addressed to W. B. Yeats; In addition to these, a series of audio and video installations focused on the writer, which make everything more interactive, as an ever-evolving space capable of reflecting the experience of literature both on paper and in real life. The museum also hosts exhibitions on other authors of Irish origin, both past and contemporary, with the aim of highlighting the influence that Joyce had on his successors, but without forgetting the innovations that the latter brought to national literature.

The Winding Stair

The Winding Stair is one of the best-known bookshops in all of Dublin, housing contemporary English and European literary works, as well as classics of Irish literature such as the masterpieces of Joyce and Yeats. The peculiarity of this bookshop, however, is given by the presence of a restaurant on the upper floor, where typical dishes of the Irish tradition are offered combined with an extensive wine list. Stop by to find inspiration for your next reading by asking the bookseller for help, who will be able to select for you the most suitable titles to remember your stay in Ireland.

Literary pubs

There’s poetry in a pint of Guinness. This is what we read on the walls of a room of the museum dedicated to the most famous Irish beer. And it couldn’t be more true: many stories, in fact, have been told, invented or set in front of the counter of a traditional pub, the meeting place par excellence for Anglo-Saxon culture. Among the most famous literary pubs are Brazen Head – the favorite of Jonathan Swift, author of “Gulliver’s Travels” – Davy Byrne’s – frequented by Joyce and present among the adventures of Leopold Bloom narrated in “Ulysses” – the Palace Bar – a pre-Victorian style pub, headquarters of Flann O’Brien, Brendan Behan and Patrick Kavanagh, but also of Robert M. Smyllie, editor of the Irish Times who held literary cafés here between the thirties and forties – and Toner’s – frequented by W. B. Yeats and Bram Stoker, author of “Dracula”.