With the impending release of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, I said I’d do a post about Irelands connection with the Jedi Knights.

The last Star Wars movie was called, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Yes there sure was cloning going on in this movie but this time it wasn’t Darth Sidious behind it all but rather the CGI artists at Lucas Arts.

When visitors to Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, began whispering about the clone-like similarity between the college's Old Library and the largest information repository in the Star Wars galaxy, librarians didn't shush them -- they called their lawyer. Overcome with the dark side they were.

After poking around a Star Wars fan site, library officials were stunned to discover the uncanny resemblance of their Old Library's Long Room to the Main Hall of the Jedi Archives.

The similarities are obvious, from the arched barrel vault running the length of the room to the double height book stacks. Even the busts and statuary of the Jedi Archive mirror the busts of figures from the academic world in the Long Room.

Is it too much of a coincidence that designers at Lucas Films would produce a library with not only a similar book arrangement to the Long Room, but a similar roof? A roof that was not original but added by later generations to solve a specific problem? The original flat ceiling was causing the external walls to buckle, and the insertion of the barrel vault was the preferred option to reintroduce structural integrity to the building. Additional supports were added which run from the floor to the ceiling along the edge of the bookstacks. Each library bay became structural and is vaulted at right angles to the main vault.

Trinity officials initially contacted their lawyers to discuss a lawsuit against director George Lucas, who had not asked permission to use the building's likeness. Lucas Arts commented that the stately architecture and vaulted ceilings of the Jedi Archives room was inspired by "a variety of real-world libraries including the Vatican, and those found in old English estates."

You be the judge:

Trinity College Vs. Jedi Archives

While there are protections in the European Union for architectural works, Any copyright statutes for the library, completed in 1732, have long since expired. In the end the librarians succumbed to the "dark side" and were forced to lay down their light sabers by dropping the case. I guess the force wasnt with them on that one....

What do you think? Rip off or Coincidence?