Min Chen, Ireland’s Oldest Book Shrine, Found Buried in a Lake, Reemerges, ArtNet, 22 June 2025
The book shrine is emerging after a 39-year-long conservation process.
In 1986, divers fished a series of ancient fragments out of a lake in a Longford County village in Ireland. The pieces were well-preserved, thanks to sediments in the lake—but they were no humble find. When researchers eventually fitted the wood, metal, and decorative components together, what emerged was nothing less than Ireland’s largest and oldest book shrine.
