Secret treasures: Discover real manuscripts from St. Marienthal monastery!

Secret treasures: Discover real manuscripts from St. Marienthal monastery!

The Leipzig University Library has launched a research project to research the networks of monasteries. This project deals with the analysis of manuscripts that come from different monasteries and have reached St. Marienthal Monastery over the centuries. Previous research showed that these transfers took place, among other things, after the Reformation and in response to monastery fires to ensure the inheritance. The current research focuses on cross -connections to other Cistercian monasteries.

All relevant manuscripts are safely stored in the Saxon State Library- State and University Library of Dresden (SLUB), including the Marienthal Psalter from the 13th century. Most recently, there were considerations by the monastery to sell this psalter. However, it was decided that old books should remain at their original location so as not to destroy the library's ensemble.

Exhibition in the Book Museum of the Slub

As part of the research project, the exhibition "The locked garden. Access to the monastery library of the Cistercians of St. Marienthal" is opened in the SLUB Book Museum in Dresden. The exhibition can be seen from January 29 to May 17, 2025. Medieval manuscripts as well as selected prints from the library of the St. Marienthal monastery, including the Marienthaler Psalter and the Altzeller chapter, book.

The Marienthaler Psalter, made on parchment, was created in the first third of the 13th century and has its origin in the Franconian area. It was probably created for a noble lady and contains a total of 150 psalms, a calendar, cantica (biblical praise), litanies, ladies prayers and private devices. This psalter forms the basis for the monastic, church and private hourly prayer since the early Middle Ages. The text is written by two writers in the early Gothic minuscule. The book jewelry is of high quality and includes colored and golden initials as well as seven full -page miniatures, which, among other things, represent scenes such as the baptism of Christ and the cross loss of Christ.

For more detailed information on the manuscripts and the exhibition, the articles from and Slub Dresden

-transmitted by West-Ost-Medien