The Harp that once through Tara's halls... Well it may have been heard in Kincora?

Here we see the Trinity College (or Brian Boru) harp as it was following (what the Wikipedia article describes as) a "bad restoration" of the 1830s. A bad restoration or not, it was in the form we see here that the harp became the model for the coat of arms of Ireland, the Guinness logo, the coins of Ireland, etc. It was subject to a more complete (and better received) restoration in the 1960s.

As contributors to the discussion below point-out, while legend implies that the harp once belonged to the 11th century High King Brian Boru, more concrete evidence dates it to the 15th century. Following restoration in the 1960s, the harp was dramatically stolen from and returned to Trinity College, Dublin. The ancient harp continues to be displayed in the long room of the library at Trinity.


Photographer: Robert French

Collection: Lawrence Photograph Collection

Date: between ca. 1865-1914

NLI Ref: L_ROY_04794

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Info:

Owner: National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source: Flickr Commons
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