Benedictine Manuscript Art Photography Repository

August 28, 2005 12:28 PM

The Benedictine Vivarium "In the Benedictine tradition of reverence for human thought and creativity, the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library preserves manuscripts, printed books and art at Saint John's University and undertakes photographic projects in regions throughout the world." -- "Nearly half of HMML's holdings derive from libraries in Austria and Germany, but HMML also houses significant collections from Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, England, and Ethiopia. It holds archival materials, and of particular importance are the Archives of the Knights of Malta, housed in the National Library in Valletta, and the Archives of the Roman Inquisition, located at the Cathedral Museum in Mdina."
EXAMPLE PAGES -- Illustrations, Photographs , Paintings/Iconography, Pottery/Sculptures, Artifacts, Manuscripts and more - if this kind of thing interests you, then search around - I've only begun scratching the surface. Nb. See browser setup info at bottom of page in main link. [via]
posted by peacay (9 comments total)

Wonderful find. Some beautiful pieces of history.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 12:58 PM on August 28, 2005

If you like that (I know I do), you'll love this.
posted by IndigoJones at 3:43 PM on August 28, 2005

Wow. This is incredibly cool. I think I just had a nerd-gasm.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 7:52 PM on August 28, 2005

Only three comments so far. What does that tell us about the Mefite universe? Sad, really.

Thanks for this.
posted by donfactor at 3:54 AM on August 29, 2005

Thanks for this post. I googled the "Knights of Malta" and really enjoyed learning about the history of the Knights & their role in assisting the sick and poor and committment to the "Defence of the Faith".
posted by Chimp at 3:56 AM on August 29, 2005

Another great resource: you’re on a roll, peacay! Now I’ll know where to look if I ever need to refer to a 17th-century Latin translation of the Qur’an.
posted by misteraitch at 4:52 AM on August 29, 2005

Only three comments so far. What does that tell us about the Mefite universe? Sad, really.

Nothing sad about it, it's just a sign that when great links like this are posted, everyone's too absorbed in exploring to witter away in the comments. Er, except us, obviously.

Great post, peacay.
posted by jack_mo at 6:43 AM on August 29, 2005

Browsing this site is like plunging your hand into a lucky-dip -- you never know what's going to turn up next. I was pleasantly surprised to find a complete scan of the Golden Cockerel Press Four Gospels with Eric Gill's illustrations -- also a fine collection of Catholic tat, including a hair shirt (so that's what they look like) and some eye-poppingly awful modern vestments. Only two cheers for the Benedictines, however, as I was frustrated by (a) the difficulty of navigating the site, and (b) the lack of information or commentary on many of the items, particularly the manuscripts.
posted by verstegan at 11:00 AM on August 29, 2005

Agreed. There's also the main site (particularly 'collections') which gives a little background on some of the collections. I get the feeling that the site is newish and that they are more about preservation/restoration and digitizing rather than being particularly scholarly in their approach.
posted by peacay at 11:19 AM on August 29, 2005