Marsh's Library: Ireland's first public library, beside St Patrick's in Dublin

Almost everyone on St Patrick's Close goes into St Patrick's Cathedral and stops there. A few steps away, behind a gate and a walled garden, is Marsh's Library instead: opened in 1707, it is the first public library in Ireland and one of the very few in Europe to have preserved almost intact the building, the furnishings and part of the original collection. It was founded by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh, who wanted to make books available not only to the clergy but also to students and citizens, in an age when reading still meant owning books or knowing someone who did.

The hall

What you see on entering is a long room of dark wood, with tall oak bookcases arranged like a comb and still numbered with the letters and symbols of the eighteenth century. On the shelves sit over twenty-five thousand volumes: works of theology, medicine, law, science, Greek and Latin classics, many printed between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. The part that strikes most are the three "reading cages" at the far end of the second gallery: small enclosures of wood and wire mesh where readers were locked in together with the most precious books, to prevent anything from disappearing under a coat. It is an anti-theft solution from the 1700s that has stayed in place, and hearing it told in front of the real cages is something quite different from reading about it.

Swift and the collections

The library is also linked to Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, who was dean of the cathedral next door and frequented these shelves: some of his books, annotated in the margins, are kept here. It is worth asking the staff what is on display at the moment, because the cases change and often show volumes that normally stay shut away in the cupboards. Don't expect a museum crowded with panels: it is a quiet study environment, with few people at a time, where you hear the creak of the floor and breathe in the smell of old paper. The little walled garden at the entrance, replanted with period herbs and plants, is the right place for a pause before or after the visit.

The reason it stays overlooked is simple: it is literally in the shadow of a more famous monument. Those who arrive at St Patrick's Close already have the cathedral and the adjacent park on their plans, and the library's understated façade does not shout its own importance. For those who love books, historic interiors and the history of ideas, however, it is one of the richest and least clichéd visits in Dublin.

How to get there

To get there: Marsh's Library is on St Patrick's Close, Dublin 8 (postcode D08 FK79), right beside St Patrick's Cathedral, about a ten-minute walk from Trinity College and the Temple Bar area, in the heart of the centre. It is easily reached on foot; the hop-on hop-off tourist buses also pass in front of it. The approximate hours are Tuesday to Friday 9:30-17:00 and Saturday 10:00-17:00, closed on Sundays and public holidays; admission is modest (full price around 8 euros, reduced for students and over-65s, free for under-18s). It is still worth checking the updated days and rates on the official website, marshlibrary.ie, as they may vary. Because of the historic nature of the building, the main hall is not wheelchair accessible.