Trinity College library

The Long Room

The 65-metre-long (213 ft) main chamber of the Old Library, the Long Room, was built between 1712 and 1732 and houses 200,000 of the Library's oldest books. The Long Room is measured at almost 65 metres long. After it was first built The Long Room had a flat ceiling, shelving for books only on the lower level, and an open gallery. By the 1850s the room needed to be expanded as the shelves were filled due to the fact that the Library had been given permission to obtain a free copy of every book that had been published in Ireland and Britain. In 1860, The Long Room's roof was raised to accommodate an upper gallery.

The Long Room is lined with marble busts. The marble bust collection was formed when they received 14 busts from the famous sculptor Peter Schemakers. Many of the busts created are of great philosophers, writers, and men who supported the college. The most popular of all the busts in the collection is of the writer Jonathan Swift. This bust was created by Louis Francois Roubiliac.