Book of Kells the colours used were derived from a wide range of substances, many of which were imports from distant lands. The manuscript takes its name from the Abbey of Kells, which was its home for centuries. Today, it is on permanent display at Trinity College Library, Dublin. The Library usually displays two of the current four volumes at a time, one showing a major illustration and the other showing typical text pages, and the entire manuscript can be viewed on the Library's Digital Collections Repository. The Book of Kells is one of the finest and most famous, and also one of
Abbey of Kells granted the land. The Abbey was refounded from Iona, the building taking from 807 until the consecration of the church in 814. The site was a former Irish hill fort. In 814, Cellach, Abbot of Iona, retired to Kells, but, contrary to what is sometimes claimed, it is clear from the "Annals" that Iona remained the main Columban house for several decades, despite the danger of Viking raids. Only in 878 were the main relics, with Columba's reliquary shrine specified in the records, moved to Ireland, with Kells becoming the new main Columban house. Though not mentioned, this might well