Modern-day Book of Kells unveiled

The Book of Kells, the greatest surviving medieval manuscript of Gaelic culture, which established a distinctive Celtic art style for the 8th century, has inspired a successor for the new millennium.

An Leabhar Mòr na Gàidhlig(The Great Book of Gaelic) is a monument to the creativity of 21st-century Gaeldom, featuring the work of more than 200 artists, calligraphers and poets from Scotland and Ireland.

Yesterday, the project, which took three years and cost more than £300,000, was unveiled at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow. The exhibition of framed artwork and poetry on handmade paper is described as a modern anthology of the best Gaelic culture has to offer for the 21st century.

Its creation parallels that of the 1,200-year-old manuscript, a Latin transcription of the Gospels laboriously illustrated by the monks of Iona. Although begun on the Scottish island, the book was moved by Irish monks to Kells in Co Meath to escape Viking raiders of the 9th century and is now kept at Trinity College, Dublin.

Inspired by the Book of Kells as an example of artistic collaboration, the Gaelic Arts Agency, Proiseact nan Ealan, launched The Great Book of Gaelic to celebrate the shared culture that has continued to bridge the Irish Sea for more than 1,000 years.

A selection of poems dating back to the 6th century on the subjects of love, death, tragedy, spirituality and nature were selected by 30 leading poets from Scotland and Ireland, including Aonghas MacNeacail and Seamus Heaney, and illustrated by artists such as Neil MacPherson, Alan Davie and John Byrne.

Malcolm Maclean, the project director, said: "The Leabhar Mòr celebrates the richness of the Gaelic language and how it is perceived by contemporary artists ... The contribution of Celtic culture to Western civilisation is immense."