The art of Ottonian illumination outlasted the Saxon rulers until well into the Salian period. The importance of Regensburg as a centre for the creation of sumptuous codices is demonstrated by two magnificent liturgical manuscripts, the Codex commissioned by the Abbess Uta and the Sacramentary of Henry II. Together with the evangeliary from Bamberg cathedral and the Bamberg Apocalypse, these books have been listed on UNESCO's 'Memory of the World' Documentary Heritage register since 2003. Four world-famous sumptuous codices from the island of Reichenau, whose monastery became the imperial scriptorium under Otto III and Henry II, are on show, including the gospels of Otto III and the pericopes of Henry II. Their ingeniously tooled luxurious bindings are encrusted with numerous precious stones, cameos and ivory reliefs, including spolia dating from the classical, Byzantine and Carolingian periods. Secular and ecclesiastical rulers commissioned liturgical manuscripts from the best writing schools and illumination centres: these gospels, pericopes and sacramentaries were richly decorated with luminous colours and gold. These establish a connection between the secular and the sacred, and underline the sanctity of imperial power. Among the greatest achievements of this Ottonian period are the magnificent depictions of sovereigns. German illumination under the Saxon emperors from Otto the Great (912-973) to Henry II (973-1024), is one of the most glorious epochs of early occidental illumination, which played a prominent role in the arts at that time. The Carolingian codices from the illumination centres of Salzburg, Tegernsee and Freising bear witness to the high quality of artistry in the 9th century.
The oldest manuscript on display dates from the era of the last Bavarian Agilolfing duke. This exhibition of original manuscripts therefore offered a unique opportunity to discover thousand-year-old testimonies to our cultural heritage. Owing to their extraordinary fragility, these highly valuable works can hardly ever leave the library’s vault. Within this library’s extensive collection, the Ottonian manuscripts in particular form a unique nucleus that is unsurpassed worldwide. These 75 magnificent volumes represent some of the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of the Carolingian, Ottonian and Romanesque eras. McKitterick, 'Carolingian Book Production', The Library, 6th series, 12 (1990), p.With 72 extraordinary manuscripts from the collection of the Bavarian State Library, as well as three exceptional works from the Bamberg State Library, the Kunsthalle of the Hypo Cultural Foundation presented from a wide overview of the earliest and most precious examples of German book illumination. This is the only recorded fragment of a Tours Bible in private hands. These were the volumes that spread Christianity and Carolingian minuscule throughout Europe. It was a previously unparalleled effort of book production, producing at least two complete de luxe sets each year for half a century. The two imperial scriptoria of Tours then specialised for half a century in producing monumental Pandects and Gospel Books for dissemination throughout the Carolingian empire: David Ganz traces some 46 Bibles and 18 Gospel Books from the scriptorium for the period 800-853 ('Mass Production of Early Medieval Manuscripts: The Carolingian Bibles from Tours', in The Early Medieval Bible, 1994, pp.53 and 61-62, not including the present example). Ganshof, 'La révision de la Bible par Alcuin' Bibliothèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance, 9, 1947, pp.7-20). As he records himself in a letter to his eventual successor Fridugisus, the finished product was to be delivered to Charlemagne on Christmas Day 800, the day of his imperial coronation in Rome (cf. Alcuin ( c.740-804), his foremost court-scholar, was engaged on the task soon after becoming the abbot of St. In 789 in his Admonitio Generalis, Charlemagne called for the protection of the surviving manuscripts of the text from wanton destruction, and he ordered that only trusted and mature scribes were to undertake its copying. The very earliest years of the Carolingian renaissance, those under the watchful eye of Charlemagne (c.742-814) and his immediate heirs, focussed on the reform of the Bible.
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