The Restoration of the world’s
largest Bible manuscript
The main damage to the Erfurt Bible from 1211 occured in the upper part of the book. Fire and water damage caused during the war resulted in the parchment pages being badly warped and stuck together in this area, making it impossible to open the Bible.
To separate the sheets of parchment, they were softened slightly using indirect moistening. Two people worked together to ensure this step was completed quickly, while making the most of the short window when the parchment sheets could easily be separated from each other.
To reduce the distortion in the fire-damaged areas, the pages were pretreated with a Gore-Tex compress. This allows moisture to slowly and gently penetrate the parchment. Then the entire page was smoothed.
Many smaller and larger parts were missing due to the fire damage. These defects were repaired using a parchment fibre suspension to produce supplements. Made individually for each defect, the supplements were glued in place using a reversible adhesive.
After the treatment, the 546 pages of the Bible were stapled together in layers. Due to the extent of the damage and the dimensions, it was not possible to reinsert them into the old box binding. The entire manuscript can now be accessed in individual layers.
Here you can see sheet 396 A before its restoration, immediately after the removal from the blocked book, and after the completion of all restoration work – removing and smoothing the pages, filling in missing sections and stitching it back together.
Move the arrow to switch between the view before and after restoration.
