Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Pisa's Rare Illuminated Manuscripts

It's easy to associate Pisa, Italy with its famous leaning tower. However, did you know that in the Middle Ages Pisa was the leading center for illuminated manuscripts? Adjacent to the tower, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo holds these rare and beautifully detailed pages, many of them religious hymns:


Please click on this photo to see the amazing fine detail around the letter; I suppose today we'd call it doodling:


Real gold was used for decoration:












No comments:

Post a Comment