A groundbreaking exhibition that explores the rich history of written scripture from across three separate, but entwined religions — Islam, Christianity and Judaism — will be held in the UK from April 27 to Sept. 23.
The British Library exhibition, which will feature religious texts from the Muslim, Christian and Jewish faiths, is funded by representatives of all three faiths, including the Coexist Foundation, the Moroccan British Society and the Saint Catherine Foundation, according to a press release.
The library announced that the Duke of Edinburgh and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI are the royal patrons of its forthcoming exhibition, Sacred, which presents some of the world’s earliest-surviving, most important and beautiful religious texts.
Rare and exquisite examples from the Library’s collections — considered to be one of the greatest in the world — will be presented alongside treasures on loan from other institutions. These include three Qur’ans from Morocco’s Royal Library in Rabat as well as other loans from its national collections.
Many of the lavishly illustrated or decorated books and manuscripts have never, or seldom, been on public display while others will be on show for the first time in the UK. Sacred also marks the first time that texts from these three faiths will be displayed and explored together, side-by-side, in a major UK exhibition, with around 230 manuscripts, texts and other objects displayed in a unique and compelling modern context.
The texts will be treated thematically, exploring points in common, looking at the ways in which they have been produced, interpreted and used. By integrating material in this way, the exhibition will demonstrate how these faiths have interacted and influenced one another, and will enable visitors to learn about all three alongside each other.
Past and present interfaith attitudes will be explored and there will be a look at interfaith activities in the UK today, showing initiatives around the regions of Britain, including at schools level. The exhibition is part of the library’s long-term plans to feature other major world faiths which are represented within its collections.
Among the treasures to be displayed are:
* Codex London: One of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, which are central to Jewish worship. The traditional Jewish view is that these five books were written by the Prophet Moses at divine dictation. This rare early copy was made in the Middle East, perhaps Palestine, in the 10th century.
* Codex Sinaiticus: It is the oldest complete manuscript of the New Testament and the earliest and best witness for some books of the Old Testament as well. This copy of the New Testament in Greek is the key to the history of Christian textual scholarship. It was produced around 350 AD, possibly in Palestine, but its name derives from the still active Monastery of Saint Catherine near the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt where it was preserved for many centuries.
* Ma’il Qur’an: One of the earliest Qur’ans in the world to have survived. This dates from the beginning of the 8th century AD. That equates to the 1st century in the Muslim Hijri calendar, which means that this manuscript was penned within 100 years of a key event in the founding of Islam i.e., the Hijrah, when the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), went from Makkah to Madinah in 622 AD. It was produced in the Arabian Peninsula, probably in or near the holy cities of Islam.
* Syriac Pentateuch: The earliest known dated Biblical manuscript. This copy of the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy in Syriac is the earliest known dated Biblical manuscript. It was written by Deacon John at Amida (modern Diyarbakir in south eastern Turkey) in 463.
* Old English Hexateuch: As the earliest copy in English of part of the Old Testament, produced in the first half of the 11th century, this manuscript from Canterbury is both remarkable and unique, featuring over 400 illustrations.
* The Lisbon Hebrew Bible: One of the last great examples of Jewish art from Iberia, this exquisitely illuminated Bible was completed in three volumes in 1482, just 15 years before the Jews were expelled from Portugal.
* Duke of Sussex’s Spanish Bible: One of the finest illustrated Hebrew Bibles, dating from the middle of the 14th century, produced in Catalonia, Spain, under Christian rule.
* “Golden” Haggadah: One of the most lavish and luxurious of all manuscripts ever created of the Passover Ritual, requiring a very wealthy patron. All the miniature paintings have backgrounds of tooled gold leaf, hence the manuscript’s name. This heavily gilded copy was produced circa 1320, in Catalonia, most likely in Barcelona, when the area was under Christian rule.
* Commentary on Diatessaron: Part of a 6th Century commentary containing quotations from the ‘Gospel Harmony’ which was ruthlessly suppressed by the early Church.
* Carpet page from a Qur’an, 14th Century, Morocco. The design of this magnificent carpet page and the style of its illumination are typical of decorative frontispieces produced in North Africa and Andalusian Spain. Gold, red, blue and green are the colors most often used in the decoration of manuscripts from this region. The most prominent feature of this carpet page is the geometric frame formed by the interlocking squares and octagons highlighted in white ink and filled in with arabesques.
* The curtain covering the door into the Kaaba at Makkah: The most distinctive feature of the Grand Mosque at Makkah, the holiest site of Islam, is the black stone structure in the center. A new covering called a “Kiswa” is made for the Kaaba every year during the month of pilgrimage, and the old covering is cut up and the pieces kept as relics.
* Silos Apocalypse: A vividly illustrated copy of the Book of Revelations named after the place in Spain (Silos) where it was made in the late 11th / early 12th century.
* Uljaytu Qur’an: This royal deluxe manuscript of the Qur’an, made for the early 14th Century Mongol ruler of Iran, Uljaytu, a direct descendant of Ghenghis Khan, was copied in 30 separate parts. This is part 25, one of very few complete ‘one-thirtieths’ of this particular manuscript to have survived.
* Sultan Baybars’ Qur’an: One of the finest of all Qur’an manuscripts, written in large letters of gold in seven magnificent folio volumes. It is little wonder that it took three years (1304-06) to produce. Apart from the wonderfully bold calligraphy, each volume is provided with a magnificent double frontispiece, showing the intricacy of Islamic geometric patterns at its finest.
* Book of Psalms in Arabic: A beautifully illuminated manuscript of the Book of Psalms prepared for the Coptic Christian community in Egypt and dating from the early 16th century. At first glance the traditional “carpet-page” with purely Islamic geometric designs leads one to imagine it to be another Mamluk-period Qur’an. This is a Christian manuscript but heavily influenced in its decoration, script, and layout by the manuscripts of the dominant religion of the area, Islam.