Chester Beatty Library Cafe

You escape to the one place where silence is not golden, and where the emptying of all the important information gathered in the quiet study of the library can be unloaded upon the nearest passerby. As you sit and eat, sipping and stirring from each other's brew, you can't help but understand the importance of the communal appreciation for, and excited congregation with knowledge. The Chester Beatty Library was established in Dublin, Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present library, on the grounds of Dublin Castle, opened on February 7, 2000, the 125th anniversary of Sir Alfred's birth and was named European Museum of the Year in 2002. The Library's collections are displayed in two: "Sacred Traditions" and "Artistic Traditions". Both displays exhibit manuscripts, miniature paintings, prints, drawings, rare books and some decorative arts from the Islamic, East Asian and Western Collections. The Library is one of the premier sources for scholarship in both the Old and New Testaments and is home to one of the most significant collections of Islamic and Far Eastern artifacts. The museum contains a number of priceless objects, including one of the surviving volumes of the first illustrated Life of the Prophet and the Gospel of Mani believed to be the last remaining artefact from Manichaeism.