Czechs get chance to view rare medieval manuscript

A visitor looks at "Codex Gigas" ("Devil's Bible") during an exibition in Klementinum, Czech National Library, 19 September 2007, in Prague.                              Czechs got the chance to examine the world's biggest medieval manuscript, the "Codex Gigas" or "Devil's Bible," for the first time in almost 359 years on Thursday when the precious work went on show as part of a four-month-long exhibition.

    PRAGUE (AFP)— http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gI2KctMxiJEf-0MwPG_1SMe77AbA

The 13th century masterpiece, considered at the time as the eighth wonder of the world, was carried off as booty by Swedish troops from Prague during the Thirty Years' War but has returned at the end of painstaking negotiations and preparations between Prague and Stockholm.

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                              The 624-page, 75-kilogramme (165-pound) work is on display in a specially desig ned safe-like room in a former Jesuit college with visitors limited to 10 at a time and rationed to a few minutes each.  

The codex is contained in a wooden folder, covered with leather and ornamented with metal. At 92 cm (36.2in.) tall, 50 cm (19.7in.) wide and 22 cm (8.6in.) thick it is the largest known medieval manuscript^[3]. It initially contained 320 vellum sheets, though eight of these were subsequently removed^[4]. It is unknown who removed the pages or for what purpose but it seems likely that they contained the monastic rules of the Benedictines.

The codex weighs nearly 75 kg (165 lbs.), the vellum used being calf skin (or donkey say some sources) from 160 animals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Gigas

The manuscript includes illuminations in red, blue, yellow, green and gold. Capital letters are elaborately illuminated, frequently across the entire page      

The book is so valuable that its Swedish owners insisted on a state guarantee worth 300 million koruna (10.8 million euros, 15.1 million dollars) rather than a normal commercial insurance to cover any eventualities, director of the Czech National Library, Vlastimil Jezek, explained at the unveiling of the exhibition.

The return of the "Devil's Bible," which owes its name to a superb illustration of the devil     Page 290 (otherwise empty) includes a unique picture of the devil, about 50cm tall. Several pages before this are written on a blackening vellum and have a very gloomy character, somewhat different from the rest of the codex.

Legend

According to legend the scribe was a monk who breached his monastic code and was sentenced to be walled up alive. In order to forbear this harsh penalty he promised to create in one single night a book to glorify the monastery forever, including all human knowledge. Near midnight he became sure that he could not complete this task alone, so he sold his soul to the devil for help. The devil completed the manuscript and the monk added the devil's picture out of gratitude for his aid.

History

The codex was created in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim, which was destroyed during the 15th century. Records in the codex end in the year 1229. The codex was later pledged to the Cistercians Sedlec monastery and then bought by the Benedictine monastery in Břevnov. From 1477-1593 it was kept in the library of a monastery in Broumov until it was taken to Prague in 1594 to form a part of the collections of Rudolf II.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War in the year 1648, the entire collection was taken by the Swedish army as plunder. Since 1649 the manuscript has been kept in the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm. The site of its creation is marked by a maquette in the town museum of Chrast.

External links

• Codex Gigas — Official Codex Gigas site at the Swedish Royal Library.
• Browse Codex Gigas — Browse the complete Codex Gigas in high resolution.
  

References

• Bártl, S., Kostelecký, J.: Ďáblova bible. Tajemství největší knihy světa, Paseka, 1993. ISBN 80-85192-64-0
• Codex Gigas in The European Library: treasure of national library of Sweden

Notes