In 1320 a University was founded at St Patrick's Cathedral with the approval of Pope Clement V and it continued until the end of the 15th century when lack of funds caused its closure. In 1547 Archbishop Browne tried to revive it unsuccessfully. In 1584 Queen Elizabeth I issued an edict 'to consider how a college might be erected' - St Patrick's was considered unsuitable and All Hallow's priory was chosen for the site of Trinity College.

Since its foundation by Queen Elizabeth I in 1592, Trinity College Dublin, the sole constituent college of the University of Dublin has expanded steadily to the point where it now has over nine thousand students. To house these students and provide the latest in facilities, the college has pursued an enlightened policy of commissioning architecture from some of the best architects in Ireland and Britain. Accordingly the college has some of the most important building in Dublin, not just from the eighteenth century but also the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.