Library Info
Library Name
The Chester Beatty Library and Gallery of Oriental Art
Library Description
Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (7 February 1875 - 19 January 1968), who always signed his name A. Chester Beatty, was an American mining magnate, philanthropist and one of the most successful businessmen of his generation, who was given the epithet the "King of Copper" as a reference to his fortune. He became a naturalised British citizen in 1933, knighted in 1954 and made an honorary citizen of Ireland in 1957. He was a collector of African, Asian, European and Middle Eastern manuscripts, rare printed books, prints and objects d'art. Upon his move to Dublin in 1950 he established the Chester Beatty Library on Shrewsbury Road to house his collection; it opened to the public in 1954. The Collections were bequeathed to the Irish people and entrusted to the care of the State in his Irish will.
