Saturday January 20 2012
It's been a bit cool lately, well it is winter after all. Only 9 degrees outside and with no possibility of it getting above 11 it is the perfect day for an inside activity.
Last weekend at Winchester someone told us about the illuminated manuscripts that are on display at the British Library. So guess where we went today?
Getting there was easy, via Victoria Station and on to Kings Cross St Pancras. This is a huge brick building, no huge is totally the wrong word, it is enormous. OK, part of the upper building is Hotel, but even so.
A short walk from the station is THE library. And what a library.
There are more than 14 million books, 920,000 journal and newspaper titles, 58 million patents, 3 million sound recordings, and much much more. From the impressive statue in the courtyard to the incredible displays this was a great place to visit.
That's the spires of St Pancras Station in the background
So on to manuscripts. These handwritten books were associated with successive English Monarchs from between the 8th and 16th centuries. The exhibition displayed more than 150 examples of the often anonymous illuminators.
These books range from large bibles to small prayer books to a guide to Royal coronations that in part is still considered the definitive guide.
No comments:
Post a Comment