Chester Beatty Library facts for kids

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Chester Beatty

Entrance of the Chester Beatty, Dublin, Ireland
Former name	Chester Beatty Library
Established	1953
Location	Dublin Castle, Dublin
Type	Art Museum, library, Visitor Attraction
Collections	The Chester Beatty is Ireland’s leading museum of world cultures, caring for and sharing an extraordinary collection of manuscripts, rare books, miniature paintings and other decorative objects that are of world importance. With collections from Europe, the Middle East and across Asia, the role of the museum is unique in Ireland’s cultural landscape.
Collection size	approx 25,000
Visitors	530,000 (2024)
Founder	Sir Alfred Chester Beatty
Public transit access	Luas, Dublin Bus, DART

The Chester Beatty is a famous museum and library located in Dublin Castle, Ireland. It was first opened in 1953 to display the amazing collections of Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, a wealthy mining expert. The museum you see today opened its doors on February 7, 2000. It was even named the European Museum of the Year in 2002!

The Chester Beatty is a top place for learning about ancient texts and art. It holds one of the most important collections of items from Western, Islamic, and East & South East Asian cultures. The museum also hosts many special exhibitions. These often feature artworks borrowed from other museums around the world. You can find truly priceless objects here. These include one of the last remaining copies of the first illustrated Life of the Prophet and the Gospel of Mani. This Gospel is one of the very last surviving Manichaean scriptures.

Exploring the Chester Beatty Galleries

The museum's collections are shown in two main areas. These are called "Sacred Traditions" and "Arts of the Book." Both areas display incredible items. You can see old handwritten books, tiny paintings, and rare printed books. There are also drawings and decorative art from Persian, Islamic, East Asian, and Western cultures.

Amazing Collections from Around the World

Western Treasures

The Western Collection has many beautiful illuminated manuscripts. These are handwritten books decorated with gold and bright colors. It also includes rare printed books and old master prints and drawings. The Christian items in this collection come from many different places. They include texts written in languages like Armenian, Greek, and Latin. The museum has one of the largest collections of papyri in the world. Papyri are ancient papers made from plants. This collection includes some of the oldest Christian artifacts known today.

Islamic Art and Texts

The Islamic Collection is divided into several parts. These include Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Mughal-Era Indian items. The Arabic texts cover many topics. These are religion, history, medicine, and math. Some of the most beautiful miniature paintings from imperial Mughal albums are here. These albums are called Muraqqa'. You can often see the Ibn al-Bawwab Qur'an on display. This holy book was copied by one of the greatest Islamic calligraphers (people who write beautifully).

Persian Masterpieces

The Persian collection features many miniature paintings and manuscripts. These include works by famous Persian poets like Ferdowsi and Nizami.

East Asian Wonders

The East Asian Collection has a huge number of carved snuff bottles. These are small, decorative bottles used for holding powdered tobacco. It also has beautiful Japanese art. This includes long picture-scrolls painted in the 17th century by Kanō Sansetsu.

Collection Highlights: A Closer Look

Arabic Collection

'Manual on the Arts of Horsemanship' by al-Aqsara'i. Cairo, 1366.

Armenian Collection

Serapion of Edessa's Abridged Bible. Amida, 1601
Armenian Gospel Book made in Isfahan in 1655

Biblical Papyri Collection

Papyrus 45
Fragments of Papyrus 46

Burmese Collection

Court amusements and ceremonies. Myanmar, 19th century
Court amusements and ceremonies. Myanmar, after 1885

Chinese Collection

Chapters 10,110 to 10,112 of the 'Great encyclopaedia of the Yongle Reign'
Imperially commissioned illustrations of agriculture and sericulture. Woodblock print by Zhu Gui after designs by Jiao Bingzhen. 1696
Paintings of birds and flowers by Hu Mei. 18th century
'Diamond Sutra' written in Chinese, engraved and gilded on fifty-three folios of nephrite jade. 1732
'Song of the jade bowl written by the imperial brush (Yubi yu weng ge)'. 1745
'South façade of the Palace of Harmonious Delights (Xieqiqu nanmian)'. After drawing by Yi Lantai. Between 1781 and 1787
Handscroll of birds and flowers. Circa 1800
Paintings of insects and fish. Early 19th century

Coptic Collection

Wooden boards. Egypt, Third century
Papyrus with the fragments of the Book of Joshua. Egypt, 4th century
Coptic manuscript of the 'Pauline Epistles & Gospel of John'. Egypt, circa 600

Egyptian Papyrus Collection

Manuscript of 'Contendings of Horus and Seth'
Book of the Dead of Lady Neskhons. Egypt, c. 300 BC

Ethiopian Collection

The Resurrection. From an Ethiopian prayer book. 17th or early 18th century
Gospels of Matthew and Mark in Geʽez. 18th century
Scroll containing magical prayers to protect against evil in Geʽez. 19th century.

Hebrew Collection

Machzor written on parchment in Hebrew in an Italian square script. Italy, 14th or 15th century
Sefer Torah on parchment written in Hebrew in a Sefardic square script in the 18th century.

Indian Collection

Portrait of Raisal Darbari. Allahabad, circa 1600-1605
Jujhar Singh Bundela kneels in submission to Shah Jahan by Bichitr, circa 1630
Awrangzib Hunts Nilgais. Circa 1660
Women on a palace terrace with a panoramic view. Faizabad, 1770
A woman preparing a meal. Kangra, c. 1810
Begum Samru and her household by Muhammad A'zam. Delhi, c. 1820
Iris, painted lacquer album cover. Delhi, c. 1850

Indian (Non-Mughal) Collection

Manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. Nepal, 1317
Manuscript of the Book of ritual (Kalpa-sūtra) and Story of the monk Kālaka (Kālakācārya-kathā). Gujarat, 1522
Two and a Half Continents. Jain cosmographical painting. Western India, late 18th - 19th century
Bhagavata Purana. Northern India, late 18th or early 19th century

Islamic Collection

Parchment Qur'an manuscript. Possibly Syria or Yemen, c. 700-750
Folio from the parchment Qur'an manuscript. Syria, c. 900
Two folios from the Blue Quran
The Ibn al-Bawwab Qur'an. Baghdad, 1000/1001
Qur'an copied by Muhammad ibn al-Wahid. Cairo, c. 1306-1310
Juz' 27 of the Qur'an copied and illuminated by Ahmad ibn Kamal al-Mutatabbib. Cairo, 1332-1336
Ruzbihan Qur'an. Shiraz, c. 1550

Japanese Collection

Jizō Bosatsu. Hanging scroll, 15th century
The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari). Manuscript from the late 16th century
Pair of handscroll paintings with scenes from Nagauta Song by Kanō Sansetsu, c. 1640s
17th century manuscript of the Ōeyama Emaki.
17th century manuscript of The Tale of Genji
Dutch mansions in Dejima, Nagasaki (Nagasaki Dejima Rankan no zu). Handscroll from the 18th century
Eleventh month (Jūichi gatsu). Woodblock print from the series Twelve months of the southern quarter (Minami jūni ko) by Torii Kiyonaga, c. 1783
Five cranes on a spit of sand. Surimono by Kubo Shunman, probably 1816
Benkei crab and plum blossom. Surimono by Yashima Gakutei with poems signed Bunbunsha, c.1823
Seven-mile beach in Sagami province (Sōshū Shichiri-ga-hama). Woodblock print from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) by Katsushika Hokusai, c. 1831
Plum Park in Kameido, woodblock print from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei) by Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857

Papyrus Collection

Official correspondence of the Strategos of Panopolis concerning the preparations for the forthcoming visit of Diocletian. Panopolis, 298

Persian Collection

Bahram Gur kills a dragon in India. From the "First Small Shahnama". Possibly Tabriz, c. 1300
Zal meets king Manuchihr, asking for his mercy. From the "Great Mongol Shahnameh". Tabriz, c. 1330
The rescue at sea by Amir Khalil. From Prince Baysunghur's Rose Garden (Gulistan). Herat, 1427
Filigree leather book cover, for the Five Poems (Khamsa) of Amir Khusrau. Herat, 1485
A party at night. Safavid miniature (possibly by Mirza Ali) attached to the Timurid copy of Bustan. Tabriz, c. 1540.
Tinted drawing of a hawk attacking a heron in landscape. From an muraqqa for Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. Possibly Iran, c. 1550-1600
Manuscript of the Futuh al-Haramayn. Mecca, late 16th-century
Zal Rescued by the Simurgh by Sadiqi Beg. Miniature from the Shahnameh commissioned by Shah Abbas I. Probably Qazvin, between 1590 and 1600
Young man in a fur hat by Reza Abbasi. Isfahan, between 1600 and 1625

Syriac Collection

Parchment manuscript of the Ephrem's Commentary on the Diatessaron and an exchange of letters between Severus of Antioch and Julian of Halicarnassus. Egypt, late 5th or early 6th century and 8th or 9th century

Thai Collection

Extracts from the Pali canon (Tipitaka) and Qualities of the Buddha (Mahabuddhaguna). Thailand, late 18th century
Fortune-Telling Manual (Phrommachat) with the twelve animals of the Thai zodiac and their associated attributes, avatars and plants. Thailand, c. 1845
Extracts from the Pali canon (Tipitaka) and Story of Phra Malai. Thailand, late 19th century
Extracts from the Pali canon (Tipitaka) and Story of Phra Malai. Thailand, 1897

Tibetan Collection

Vajrapani Mandala. Thangka. Tibet, 18th or 19th century

Turkish Collection

Binding from "The Cream of Histories" (Zubdat al-tawarikh). Istanbul, 1585-1590
Description of the Prophet (Hilya al-nabi), by Hâfiz Osman. Istanbul, 1691/1692

Western Collection

Byzantine Gospel Book, c. 1100
'Garden of knowledge (Viridarium)', a medieval encyclopaedia by Jean Reynaud. Probably Avignon, between 1386 and 1425
Coëtivy Hours by Dunois Master. Paris, 1443-1445

Western Miscellaneous Collection

Triptych with Virgin and Child and St Nicholas. Russia, c. 1800
St John the Forerunner. Russia, 19th century

Western Prints and Drawings Collection

Popish Plot Playing Cards, after Francis Barlow. England, c. 1679
Dressing gown (Saut de lit). Fashion plate after Gerda Wegener. Paris, Journal des Dames et des Modes, 20 July 1914 (no. 78)

Other Interesting Items

First edition of 'The Prester John of the India' (Ho Preste Joam das Indias) by Francisco Álvares. Lisbon, 1540
Embroidered Binding. Possibly an Italian 18th-century binding of white silk Damask. The Book of Common Prayer and administration of the sacraments
Art Nouveau binding by Charles Meunier. Paris, 1897