Cultural policy - Gutenberg Museum can buy Bible for 1.85 million euros
Thanks to a broad alliance, the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz can purchase a rare historical Bible worth 1.85 million euros. The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Culture announced that the Board of Trustees of the Kulturstiftung der Länder (Cultural Foundation of the Federal States) had approved funding on Wednesday to make this possible. The valuable "block book" is a rarity and was produced around 1460.
"A copy of the quality and completeness of the one that the Gutenberg Museum will now acquire is unique in Germany," the ministry's statement reads. "The Gutenberg Museum plans to integrate the block book into its permanent exhibition."
According to the ministry, so-called block books have a high book and publishing history value. They mark the transition from manuscript culture to book printing. The printing plates of the individual pages were produced using the woodcut method. Before the invention of movable type, books could have been produced in small series in this way.
"This block book is a rare testimony of outstanding quality from the earliest period of book printing," said Markus Hilgert, Secretary General of the Kulturstiftung der Länder. "It will close a gap in the collection of the "Weltmuseum der Druckkunst"."
"I am delighted that the Gutenberg Museum's collection can be expanded to include this special piece of cultural property of national importance," said Culture Minister Katharina Binz (Greens). "The purchase is made possible by the joint efforts of the Ministry of Culture, the city, the Foundation for the Promotion of the Gutenberg Museum, the Moses Foundation and the generous support of the Cultural Foundation of the Federal States."
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The Gutenberg Museum, located in the cultural city of Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate, will showcase the historical Bible in its permanent exhibition following its acquisition. This significant acquisition falls under the broader cultural policy initiatives in the region, aiming to preserve and promote cultural heritage.
The valuable block book, produced around 1460, is a unique piece in the German context, and its addition to the Gutenberg Museum's collection will enhance the museum's status as a world-renowned center for printmaking history.
Source: www.stern.de
