Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) corporately designated as the Provost, Fellows and Scholars of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth as the "mother of a university", and is the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. Trinity and the University of Dublin form Ireland's oldest university.
Trinity is located in the centre of Dublin, Ireland, on College Green opposite the former Irish Houses of Parliament (now a branch of the Bank of Ireland). The campus occupies 47 acres (190,000 m²), with many buildings, both old and new, ranged around large courts (known as "squares") and two playing fields.
Trinity retains a strong "campus" atmosphere despite its location in the centre of a capital city (and despite it being one of the most significant tourist attractions in Dublin). This is in large part due to the compact design of the campus, whose main buildings look inwards, and the existence of only a few public entrances. The main campus "island" is approximately 47 acres, including the Trinity College Enterprise Centre nearby, and buildings account for around 200,000 m², ranging from works of historic architecture to state-of-the-art modern facilities.
Trinity's campus contains many buildings of architectural merit, especially from the 18th and 19th centuries. These include the Chapel and Examination Hall designed by Sir William Chambers and the Museum Building designed by the Irish architects Thomas Newenham Deane and Benjamin Woodward.
In addition to the city centre campus, Trinity also incorporates the Faculty of Health Sciences buildings located at St. James's Teaching Hospital and the Adelaide and Meath incorporating the National Children's Hospital, Tallaght. The Trinity Centre at St James's Hospital has recently been completed and incorporates additional teaching rooms as well as the Institute of Molecular Medicine and John Durkan Leukaemia Institute.
Many students are housed on campus, or in Trinity Hall on Dartry Road in Rathmines, four kilometres to the south of the city campus, but large numbers secure accommodation external to the college. Foreign and exchange students are given priority when campus and Trinity Hall places are allocated.
Early History
The first university of Dublin was created by the Pope in 1311 , and had a Chancellor, lecturers and students (granted protection by the Crown) over many years, before coming to an end at the Reformation.
Following this, and some debate about a new University at St. Patrick's Cathedral, in 1592 a small group of Dublin citizens obtained a charter by way of Letters Patent from Queen Elizabeth incorporating Trinity College Dublin at the former site of All Hallows monastery, a mile to the south east of the city walls, provided by the Corporation of Dublin.[10] The first Provost of the College was the Archbishop of Dublin, Adam Loftus, and he was provided with three initial Fellows. Two years after foundation, a few Fellows and students began to work in the new College, which then lay around one small square.
During the following fifty years the community increased and endowments, including considerable landed estates, were secured, new fellowships were founded, the books which formed the foundation of the great library were acquired, a curriculum was devised and statutes were framed. The founding Letters Patent were amended by succeeding monarchs on a number of occasions, such as by James I (1613) and most notably by Charles I (who established the Board - then the Provost and seven senior Fellows - and reduced the panel of Visitors in size) and supplemented as late as the reign of Queen Victoria (and later still amended by the Oireachtas in 2000).
The 18th and 19th Centuries
The eighteenth century was for the most part peaceful in Ireland, and Trinity shared in this calm, though at the beginning of the period a few Jacobites and at its end some political radicals perturbed the College authorities. During this century Trinity was the university of the Protestant Ascendancy. Parliament, meeting on the other side of College Green, made generous grants for building. The first building of this period was the Old Library building, begun in 1712, followed by the Printing House and the Dining Hall. During the second half of the century Parliament Square slowly emerged. The great building drive was completed in the early nineteenth century by Botany Bay, the square which derives its name in part from the herb garden it once contained (and which was succeeded by Trinity's own Botanic Gardens).
The nineteenth century was also marked by important developments in the professional schools. The Law School was reorganised after the middle of the century. Medical teaching had been given in the College since 1711, but it was only after the establishment of the school on a firm basis by legislation in 1800, and under the inspiration of one Macartney, that it was in a position to play its full part, with such teachers as Graves and Stokes, in the great age of Dublin medicine. The Engineering School was established in 1842 and was one of the first of its kind in the British Isles.
The 20th century
Women were admitted to Trinity as full members for the first time in 1904, thus making it the first ancient university in Ireland or Britain to do so.
The School of Commerce was established in 1925, and the School of Social Studies in 1934. Also in 1934, the first female professor was appointed.
In 1962 the School of Commerce and the School of Social Studies amalgamated to form the School of Business and Social Studies. In 1969 the several schools and departments were grouped into Faculties as follows: Arts (Humanities and Letters); Business, Economic and Social Studies; Engineering and Systems Sciences; Health Sciences (since October 1977 all undergraduate teaching in dental science in the Dublin area has been located in Trinity College); Science.
The School of Pharmacy was established in 1977 (until recently, every pharmacy in Ireland had to employee a TCD-qualified pharmacist) and around the same time, the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was transferred to University College, Dublin.
Student numbers increased sharply during the 1980s and 1990s, with total enrolment more than doubling, leading to pressure on resources.
Recent Years
Trinity is today in the very centre of Dublin, as the city has expanded eastwards and continues to grow, and to develop its academic and other activities.
Catholics and Trinity
During its early life, Trinity was exclusively for the Protestant Ascendancy class. Following early steps in Catholic Emancipation, Roman Catholics were first admitted in 1793 (prior to the equivalent change at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford). In 1873, all religious tests were abolished, except for the Divinity School. However, it was not until 1970 that the Roman Catholic Church, through the Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid, lifted its policy of disapproval or even excommunication for Roman Catholics who enrolled without special dispensation, at the same time as the Trinity authorities allowed a Roman Catholic chaplain to be based in the college.
The Library
The Library of Trinity College is the largest research library in Ireland. As a result of its historic standing, Trinity is a legal deposit library (as per Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003) for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and has a similar standing in Irish law. The college is therefore legally entitled to a copy of every book published in Great Britain and Ireland and consequently receives over 100,000 new items every year. The library contains 4.5 million books, including 30,000 current serials and significant collections of manuscripts, maps, and printed music. Six library facilities are available for general student use.
The €27 million James Ussher Library, opened officially by the President of Ireland in April 2003, is the newest addition to Trinity's library facilities. The eight story 9,500 m² building provides 750 new reader spaces and houses the Glucksman Map Library and Conservation Department. The Glucksman library contains half a million printed maps, the largest collection of cartographic materials in Ireland. This includes the first Ordance Surveys of ireland, conducted in the early 19th century.
The Book of Kells is by far the Library's most famous book and is located in the Old Library, along with the Book of Durrow, the Book of Howth and other ancient texts. Also incorporating the Long Room, the Old Library is one of Ireland's biggest tourist attractions, and holds thousands of rare, and in many cases very early, volumes. Though the Book of Kells has been exhibited in other locations, damage caused on a loan in 2000 to an Australian institution has led to a policy of never allowing the book to leave Trinity again.
The look of the Great Jedi library (the Library of Ossus) in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was inspired by the Long Room; the two are virtually identical in appearance. Trinity considered legal action but the matter was not pursued. [www.archeire.com/news/2002/000238.htm]
In addition to on-campus facilities, Trinity has a major book depository in Santry, from which books are retrieved on request.