Medieval Mystery Books

With the help of modern research techniques, scientists at Trinity College in Dublin have launched a fascinating detective work, perhaps, help to unravel the mysteries of one of the jewels of medieval mystery books art: "The Book of Kells. " More than half a million people visit the library each year of this prestigious Irish university to examine closely the intricate, colorful and bizarre artwork created by anonymous monks around 800 AD. In a first phase, experts apply laser beams to establish, for example, the composition and origin of the pigments used, according to Trinity College. Later, also made X-ray analysis and infrared, and DNA studies. First results from laser tests will be announced later this year, the sources added. Scientists hope to confirm that some of the substances used to achieve certain colors, like green or brown, came from the immediate environment of artists. The blue was extracted, perhaps, the dust of Afghan lapis lazuli, a gemstone is very popular in antiquity, while the red could be caused by "exotic" insects imported from southern Europe. We also know that your pages are parchment made from the skin of more than 200 calves, but it remains a complete medieval mystery books where the monks produced the book, which contains the four Gospels of the New Testament, written in Latin and accompanied by preliminary notes and explanatory. By some accounts, it was the St. Columba, one of the most important figures in Irish and Scottish Christianity, who began the work in the monastery of Iona in Scotland. The constant attacks by Viking raiders forced the religious perhaps moving the book to the abbey town of Kells, County Meath, Ireland (east), where he remained for several centuries and from which it takes its current name. He almost lost forever when in 1006, according to legend, thieves took the abbey "the great Gospel. "Apart from minor damage caused by moisture, the book was found a few weeks later and miraculously, only lacked the main deck, which, apparently, was decorated with gold and jewels. It has also endured successive restorations, including a rush in the eighteenth century, when a reckless cut binder pages you shamelessly. The extraordinary quality art miniatures drawings and details of some of them can only be appreciated through a magnifying glass, in contrast, however, notable differences between the text of the Book of Kells and the Gospels. A former librarian of Trinity College, Peter Brown, wrote in this regard: "The text is full of errors of all types and very few have been corrected. Misspellings, errors in Latin grammar and even errors that demonstrate the inability ( artists) to understand the meaning of the Latin. " Either way, the enigmatic religious figures, the complex and labyrinthine shapes: fish, birds, cats, lions, wolves, horses, some real and some imagined-that populate the pages of this book continue to be sources of fascination and inspiration for our contemporaries. In fact, much of what is identified today as native-Celtic art designs for jewelry, for banknotes and coins of ancient Irish pounds, for decoration, for marketing in general, actually comes from the imagination of modest and unknown monks. . .
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