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Posted on Monday October 5, 2015

Updated on Monday November 6, 2023

The Virtual Manuscript Library of Switzerland

E-codices has made available particularly valuable items, such as the Swiss Illustrated Chronicles from the 15th and 16th centuries which present the History of the Swiss Confederation.

Currently, the virtual library contains 1001 manuscripts from 42 different libraries. On the E-codices site, complete digital reproductions of the manuscripts are linked with corresponding scholarly descriptions. 40 manuscripts produced under Abbot Frowin in the early years of the monastery of Engelberg (Canton of Obwalden), a unique collection in Switzerland that shows how, in the High Middle Ages, a conventual library collection was planned and built up. Manuscripts containing texts from Greek antiquity in the Greek language, manuscripts containing medieval and early modern translations of Greek classics, and manuscripts containing medieval commentaries on key works of Greek antiquity. Outstanding examples of Carolingian book art such as the richly illustrated Prudentius Manuscript, created around 900 in the area of Lake Constance containing the poems published by Prudentius in the year 405, as well as a later added eighth work. Circa 30 medieval manuscripts from the Abbey Library of St. Gall and so forth. The virtual library will be continuously updated and extended.

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