Giant Bible from St. Florian

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photo-request.svg
 Image wanted 

The Giant Bible of St. Florian is an illustrated medieval manuscript from the 12th century. It measures 66 × 48 cm and comprises 357 sheets of parchment with Bible text in Latin and magnificent paintings. This makes it one of the most important works of art in Romanesque book art . The giant Bible is kept in the Abbey Library of St. Florian Monastery in Upper Austria .

history

Such an extensive book could only be produced by a powerful scriptorium that had existed in St. Florian since around 1100. The original three-volume Bible was written around 1140/50. It was used for reading in the context of the monastic hours of prayer . Around 1500 there was a new binding into a single volume, with parts of the original third volume being lost.

Individual alienated sheets were still in Upper Austria. In the 16th and 17th centuries they were used as binding material for files in the Starhemberg Archives in Wildberg Castle . The inventory was brought to Starhemberg Castle in Eferding via Riedegg Castle . Around 1900 a large part of the inventory was sold to a paper mill for reasons of space. Pages of the Bible found and detached in it were made known by Heinrich Fichtenau around 1948 as the "Eferdinger Riesenbibel", but later clearly assigned to the Bible of St. Florian.

In 2019, additional sheets were discovered in the binding of an archive manuscript of the pilgrimage church Maria Schöndorf in Vöcklabruck from 1594.

The book

The giant Bible of St. Florian is kept as Codex XI 1 in the abbey library. Parts of this Bible are also in the Austrian National Library (two sheets, Codex No. 4236, and Fragment No. 621) and in the Upper Austrian Provincial Archives (book cover find No. 1).

The two-column page layout includes 48 times 34 cm with 45 to 56 lines per page.

The title plate and the leather binding over the wooden cover date from the 15th century. The metal fittings are probably younger.

literature

  • Friedrich Buchmayr , Karl Rehberger , Friedrich Simader: The giant Bible of St. Florian (= Codices Illuminati. Masterpieces from the collections of the most important libraries in the world. II. Abbey and monastery libraries, Volume 5). Academic Printing and Publishing Establishment, Graz 2008, ISBN 978-3-201-01886-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Buchmayr / Rehberger / Simader 2008, p. 85.
  2. ↑ a b c Buchmayr / Rehberger / Simader 2008, p. 28.
  3. ↑ discovered Precious Bible fragments in St. Florian. In: orf.at. June 26, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Cod. Ser. n. 4236. Bible (fragment of the giant Bible by St. Florian). St. Florian, around 1140/50. In: onb.ac.at. Austrian National Library, accessed on May 30, 2020 .