Hereford Cathedral - Mappa Mundi and Chained Library

The cathedral in Hereford is famous for several thing. One of the wonders I've yet to see touted is the marvelous ironwork on the front door.

One of the things it is renowned for is the housing the Mappa Mundi.

Measuring 1.59 x 1.34 metres (5’2” by 4’4”), the map is constructed on a single sheet of vellum (calf skin). Scholars believe it was made around the year 1300 and shows the history, geography and destiny of humanity as it was understood in Christian Europe in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries.

The inhabited part of the world as it was known then, roughly equivalent to Europe, Asia and North Africa, is mapped within a Christian framework. Jerusalem is in the centre, and east is at the top. East, where the sun rises, was where medieval Christians looked for the second coming of Christ. The British Isles is at the bottom on the left.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing to see here is the chained library.

The cathedral’s earliest and most important book is the 8th-century Hereford Gospels; it is one of 229 medieval manuscripts which now occupy two bays of the Chained Library.

The chaining of books was the most widespread and effective security system in European libraries from the Middle Ages to the 18th century, and Hereford Cathedral’s 17th-century Chained Library is the largest to survive with all its chains, rods and locks intact.

A chain is attached at one end to the front cover of each book; the other end is slotted on to a rod running along the bottom of each shelf. The system allows a book to be taken from the shelf and read at the desk, but not to be removed from the bookcase.

The books are shelved with their foredges, rather than their spines, facing the reader (the wrong way round to us); this allows the book to be lifted down and opened without needing to be turned around – thus avoiding tangling the chain.

The specially designed chamber in the New Library Building not only means that the whole library can now be seen in its original arrangement as it was from 1611 to 1841, but also allows the books to be kept in controlled environmental conditions according to modern standards of presentation.

There has been a working theological library at the cathedral since the 12th century, and the whole library continues to serve the cathedral’s work and witness both as a research centre and as a tourist attraction.

You really must be literate in latin to use this place. Not only are all the books in latin but the indexing system is also. 

The books are printed on vellum, making them very long lasting. Yet, there are still places where the critters have had a few bites.