Historic copy of Hebrew Bible returns to Spain to go on display in 2020

October 27, 2019 by JNS
Read on for article

One of the oldest and most expensive copies of the Hebrew Bible was returned to Spain, where it was created in 1476, and will go on display next year.

The Kennicott Bible, one of the oldest and most expensive copies of the Hebrew Bible. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

The Kennicott Bible, with more than 900 pages, will be showcased in the city of Santiago de Compostela—a Christian pilgrimage site in northern Spain and the capital of the Galicia region—on April 12, 2020, announced the local government of Galicia.

It was written by Moisés Ibn Zabara and illustrated by Joseph Ibn Hayyim for Isaac di Braga, an influential Jewish businessman from Galicia. It’s now worth millions of dollars.

Oxford University, which owns the copy of the Bible, will lend it to the Museo Centro Gaiás in Santiago for an exhibition titled “Galicia: A Story of the World.”

The bible turned up at Oxford in the United Kingdom in 1771.

It is unclear how it made its way there, but was taken to Portugal and then North Africa before its whereabouts were unknown for about 300 years. Many Jews fleeing the Spanish Inquisition that began in 1492 smuggled out books and artifacts that would have been censored or destroyed on the Iberian Peninsula.

JNS

Comments

One Response to “Historic copy of Hebrew Bible returns to Spain to go on display in 2020”
  1. Adrian Jackson says:

    What beautiful art work.

Speak Your Mind

Comments received without a full name will not be considered
Email addresses are NEVER published! All comments are moderated. J-Wire will publish considered comments by people who provide a real name and email address. Comments that are abusive, rude, defamatory or which contain offensive language will not be published

Got something to say about this?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from J-Wire

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading