This huge book is considered one of the largest manuscripts that have survived to our time. We are talking about Codex Gigas, which was created at the beginning of the 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of the Czech city of Podlajice.
This manuscript is written in Latin. And it concentrates the knowledge of the monks of the Benedictine order at the beginning of the 13th century. Initially, the manuscript had 640 pages, of which 624 have survived to our time in good condition. As for the dimensions, the size of the binding is 92 cm in height, 50 cm in width. The book is 22 cm thick and weighs 75 kg.
One legend is connected with this ancient edition: Codex Gigas was created by a copyist monk with the help of the devil. The monk was allegedly very guilty of something and as punishment for his sins had to write and decorate with illustrations a collection of all human knowledge in one night. It was assumed that this manuscript would glorify the monastery for ages.
However, around midnight, he realized that he did not have time and agreed to sell his soul to the devil in exchange for help. It is because of this otherworldly intervention that on page 290 of the book, one of the most famous portraits of the devil, created during the Middle Ages, is displayed.
The further fate of the world's largest book was as follows - during the Thirty Years' War, the manuscript was taken by Swedish troops as a military trophy. Since then, it has been stored in the Swedish Royal Library in Stockholm, and in October 2007, the manuscript was exhibited for the first time in its homeland - in the Czech Republic.
Source: thevintagenews.com
