The Book of Kells, often described as the chief relic of the Western world, is an early Irish 8th-9th century gospel illustration belonging to the Irish group of illuminated manuscripts. These works, produced in Ireland, Scotland, and North England have many similar features and are treated as a singular cultural province, called Hiberno-Saxon. Other examples of which are the book of Durrows and the Lindensform gospels.

Consisting of the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Book of Kells is written on vellum. It is assumed to have originated at Iona, and later completed at the Irish monastery of Kells in County Meath; established in the early ninth century at the time of the Viking invasions, by the monks of the monastery of Iona off the coast of Scotland. Its beginnings are attributed to the eminent scribe Connachtach and the Abbot of Iona. Since the seventeenth century the Book of Kells has been in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.

In the year 1006 (recte 1007) we are told that; "it was wickedly stolen during the night from the western sacristy of the great stone church at Cenannas (Kells) on account of its wrought shrine." A few months later, it was found under a sod, deprived of its gold. This violent wrenching of the wooden and metalwork covers, may well account for the missing leaves at the beginning and end of the Book.

In 1654, the Cromwellian cavalry having been quartered in the church of Kells, the governor of the town sent the Book to Dublin for safety. A few years later, after 1661, it was presented to Trinity College by Henry Jones, former bishop Clogher, who became scoutmaster of Cromwell's army and, at the Restoration, bishop of Meath.

Large-in-size, it was probably intended to be an altar-book. The book is a Latin copy of the gospels, written in the Irish style. It is regarded as one of the finest examples of Christian Celtic art.

Although no gold decoration is used, a generous use of yellow makes up for the lack thereof. Other colors in the book are red, black, purple and indigo. Decorated initials are a common feature. Many of the letters are made in the shape of animals. Some examples are: eagles, cows, lions, cats, mice, otters, snakes, and moths. Designs in the book have an almost perfect symmetry. Although, it is sometimes difficult to decypher what animal the artist intended to depict.

The Chi-Rho page is perhaps the most unusual; reputedly it is the most celebrated of the Kell images. It provides very good examples of different medieval designs. Decoration takes up most of the page, thus, leaving only a small space for the text.

The contents are: the text of the gospels, the canon-tables, the breves causae (summaries of the gospel), argumenta (strange collections of lore and legend concerning the evangelists), and lists of Hebrew names with interpretations. It also contains the lineage in the Gosple of St. Matthew. Several pages are missing, either from the thievery mentioned previously, or neglect.

A beautiful example of Irish illuminated manuscripts; it possesses colorful and complex decoration. Many years have been devoted to its study. Unique and ornate, it consists of animals, plants, spirals, mazes, and swirls. Only two pages of the book do not have any decoration. The designs are beautiful, and it is difficult to focus on an individual page as each has a multitude of intricacies.

It has no less than 31 full-page illustrations. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each have a full-page of their individual symbol. Matthew as the angel, Mark the lion, Luke the bull, and John the eagle. Other full-page illustrations are portraits of Christ, the Virgin Mary and of the evangelists.

Celtic symbol designs date from the pre-Christianity period; used in ornamentation on brooches, mirrors and other objects. According to the Grollier Encyclopedia, Celtic art is: "the highly stylized curvilinear art that originated during the second half of the 1st millennium B.C. among the Celtic peoples of Iron Age Europe." Celtic art was highly influenced by Etruscan and Greek motifs. Common element are the foliage patterns; relative to the La Tene Celtic art style, so named for the spectacular discovery of Celtic artifacts that occurred in the 1850s, at the northern end of Switzerland's Lake Neuchatel.

"La Tene" is distinguished by the use of high-relief ornamentation and by a complete transformation of form; abstract to figurative, plant to animal.