Sir Alfred Chester Beatty
Sir Alfred Chester Beatty had a pretty amazing life before he settled in Ireland after World War 2. Art historian and Director of the Chester Beatty Library, Fionnuala Croke tells us all about some of us amazing adventures that turned the young Beatty from a poor mucker into a mining tycoon and how he built up his amazing collection of art work.
More about Dublin Castle
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, 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 artefacts. The Western Collection houses many illuminated manuscripts, rare books and Old Master prints and drawings. The collection of papyri is one of the most extensive in the world and includes almost the entire corpus of Ancient Egyptian Love Songs. The Islamic Collection is divided between the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Qur'an and Mughal-Era Indian Collections. The Arabic text include treaties on religion, history, jurisprudence, medicine, geography, mathematics, astronomy and linguistics. Some of the finest miniatures from imperial Mughal albums, called Muraqqa', are housed in the Chester Beatty Library; with important paintings from the Late Shah Jahan Album and the Minto Album. Often on display is the Ibn al-Bawwab Qur'an, copied by one of the greatest medieval Islamic calligraphers.
