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Here’s new of a much older, though no less spectacular, religious text.
The venerable Book of Kells is now available for viewing, in stunning digital quality, on your own computer.
The Book of Kells is not only the most famous manuscript in the Library of Trinity College Dublin, but one of the most famous books in the history of the world, and the most sumptuously illustrated manuscript to have survived from the early Middle Ages in Europe.
Completed in 800 AD, the vellum (calfskin) manuscript contains transcriptions of the four Gospels, lavishly illustrated and ornamented. The Book of Kells contains 680 pages (340 folios), only two of which are without ornament. About thirty folios, including some major decorated pages, have been lost.
The scribes and artists who created the Book were Columban monks who lived in a monastery on the remote island of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland. The monastery was founded by an Irish monk, St Colm Cille, in the late sixth century.
All 340 folios of the Book are made available on one CD-ROM. A unique zoom feature allows examination of the illuminated folios in detail.
A wealth of additional information is presented, ranging from the origins of the Book's history, the scribes who created it, the materials they used and the design systems of the day, to the many themes of the Book, including details of animals, angels, monks and illuminated capital letters.
The CD-ROM has been developed by the Library of Trinity College Dublin and X Communications, and it is the only authorized digital version of the Book of Kells.
Check it out at
http://www.bookofkells.com