Abbey of Kells to its presence at the abbey. Later in the same century, the monastery was dissolved with the abbey becoming a parish church and the Book of Kells continued to be kept there. Catholic landowners acquired the land. The Book of Kells remained at Kells until the 1650s when Cromwell's troops were stationed in the town. At that point it was sent to Dublin for safekeeping. In 1661, the Book of Kells ended up in Trinity College, Dublin where it has stayed ever since. Today, the monastic site includes a 10th-century round tower that rises around 90 feet from the original
Book of Kells pages were, in effect, turned into carpet pages. The decoration of these texts is so elaborate that the text itself is almost illegible. The opening page (folio 29r) of Matthew may stand as an example. (See illustration at left.) The page consists of only two words: "Liber generationis" ("The book of the generation"). The "lib" of "Liber" is turned into a giant monogram which dominates the entire page. The "er" of "Liber" is presented as an interlaced ornament within the "b" of the "lib" monogram. "Generationis" is broken into three lines and contained within an elaborate frame in the right