Arts The wondrous Codex Gigas - aka. the Devil's Bible - goes on display in Prague

21-09-2007 13:59 | Jan Velinger, Milena Štráfeldová

Exhibitions like this one are once in a lifetime: the loan of a famous Bohemian tome officially known as the Codex Gigas (but also as the Devil's Bible) to Prague. According to historians, the book, one of the largest medieval manuscripts in the world (almost a metre tall and half a metre wide), was completed some time in the 13th century at a Bendectine monastery in east Bohemia. The tome, once considered to be the eighth wonder of the world, is the oldest Czech chronicle written in Latin. Despite its devilish moniker, the Codex is by no means a satanic bible: the name comes from an accompanying legend and a famous depiction of the devil inside. It contains transcripts of the Old and New Testaments as well as a number of other medieval documents.

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