Marsh's Library

Marsh’s Library stands beside St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin and is one of the oldest public libraries in Ireland, still housed in its original early eighteenth-century building. The dark oak bookcases, gated alcoves and rows of early printed volumes have changed remarkably little over the centuries.

Visitors come as much for the atmosphere of the reading rooms as for the collections, which cover theology, medicine, science, travel and classical literature. It is a quiet counterpoint to the busier attractions nearby, and small enough to see comfortably in an hour.