Facsimile Editions: Treasures from the Vatican

Held in the hands of Emperor Charlemagne, adorned with a masterful ivory cover: a world famous highlight of Carolingian book art

Aachen (Germany) — Ca. 810

Still used at Christmas in St. Peter's Basilica: a magnificent Renaissance masterpiece for the famous Borgia Pope Alexander VI

Rome (Italy) — Late 15th century

Made by order of the imperial treasurer Leo Patrikios: the oldest Byzantine picture Bible with the earliest depictions of saints in Christianity

Court Scriptorium, Istanbul (Turkey) — Ca. 925–950

A huge, two-volume masterpiece with grandiose miniature paintings: the luxury Bible for one of the richest princes of the Italian Renaissance

Florence (Italy) — 1476–1478

Epistles of Peter, the apocryphal correspondence of 3 Corinthians and the birth of Mary: a fascinating insight into the origins of the Bible in a nearly 1,800-year-old papyrus

Egypt — 3rd century

De arte venandi cum avibus, one of the most famous manuscripts of the Middle Ages: the masterpiece of falconry, written by the Staufer Emperor Frederick II

Rotunda or Naples (Italy) — Ca. 1258–1266

Painted and folded sheets with a total length of almost 11 meters: a richly illuminated testimony to the seemingly strange world of ancient Mexico before the arrival of the Conquistadores

Written possibly in the zone of Puebla-Tlaxcala-Cholula (Mexico) — 15th century

Byzantine illumination commissioned by the Emperor: the lives of saints in 400+ golden miniatures

Istanbul (Turkey) — Late 10th century or early 11th century

The tender rose as a symbol for the woman: 93 golden miniatures illuminate what is perhaps the most famous allegorical romance novel of the Middle Ages

Paris (France) — Ca. 1280

A masterpiece full of images associated with the great names of the fine arts: Dante Alighieri, Sandro Botticelli, and Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici.

Florence (Italy) — 1480–1490

Created for a pope at war with the Visconti: A golden treasure of Gothic book illumination and a highlight of the Vatican Library

Italy — End of the 14th century

A genius painter active at the court of no less than three French kings: Jean Bourdichon and his magnificent masterpiece of the Gothic style from the Vatican

France — Second half of the 15th century

Like murals from Pompeii: the oldest Vergil manuscript from antiquity and the most important example of an illustrated book of the period

Rome (Italy) — Around 400

A unique testimony from the 4th century: the oldest complete Greek manuscript of the Old Testament and perhaps the best version of the Septuagint

Probably Constantinople (Turkey) — 4th century

Owned by the Renaissance prince Federico da Montefeltro: one of the finest illuminated editions of Dante's Divine Comedy

Urbino and Ferrara (Italy) — Ca. 1480

Made for the imperial aspirations of the English king: the magnificent luxury atlas of Henry VIII created by the famous Venetian cartographer Battista Agnese

Venice (Italy) — 1542–1547

Commissioned by Abbot Desiderius: a magnificently illuminated lectionary with insights into the life of St. Benedict and the everyday life of the Montecassino Abbey

Montecassino Abbey (Italy) — Ca. 1070

Depictions and information concerning 600 plants: a masterful Dioscorides manuscript in the possession of Pope Alexander VII

Italy — Ca. 1400

Intended as a picture book for the son of the Hungarian king: a masterpiece with golden miniatures of the Trecento based on Jacobus de Voragine's famous tale of the saints

Hungary — Ca. 1330–1340