The Medieval Imagination
‘The Medieval Imagination, Illustrated Manuscripts from Cambridge, Australia and New Zealand’ was a blockbuster exhibition recently held at the State Library of Victoria. This 26 min documentary, produced and directed by Philippe Charluet, looks at the bringing together of 90 hand-made, precious books dating from the 8th to the 16th centuries, including the oldest European book to ever cross the Equator.
Behind the scenes of this exhibition and its creation, lies the fascinating story of the richest repository of Western knowledge and art, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the advent of printing.
“It is extremely important that people living in one era - us today - keep contact with earlier ages. It is not good when the links are cut from the past, because I think the world shrinks.”
EMERITUS PROFESSOR MARGARET MANION
EXHIBITION CURATOR
“These are the relics and they are almost indestructible. We can look at these books now that are 500 years old and they will still exist in 500 years’ time. It is something that is part of where we come from and where we are going to.”
CHRISTOPHER DE HAMEL
CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
Ordering a DVD for educational purpose from:
(from the State Library of Victoria)