![]() The manuscript includes illuminations in red, blue, yellow, green and gold. Weighing 74.8 kg (165 lb), Codex Gigas is composed of 310 leaves of vellum claimed to be made from the skins of 160 donkeys, or perhaps calfskin, covering 142.6 m 2 (1,535 sq ft) in total. ![]() At 92 cm (36 in) long, 50 cm (20 in) wide and 22 cm (8.7 in) thick, it is the largest known medieval manuscript. The codex's bookbinding is wooden boards covered in leather, with ornate metal guards and fittings. Illuminated initial at the start of the Wisdom of Solomon Įventually finding its way to the imperial library of Rudolf II in Prague, the entire collection was taken as spoils of war by the Swedish in 1648 during the Thirty Years' War, and the manuscript is now preserved at the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, where it is on display for the general public. Between the Old and New Testaments are a selection of other popular medieval reference works: Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and De bello iudaico, Isidore of Seville's encyclopedia Etymologiae, the chronicle of Cosmas of Prague, and medical works: an early version of the Ars medicinae compilation of treatises, and two books by Constantine the African. The manuscript contains the complete Vulgate Bible, as well as other popular works, all written in Latin. The manuscript was created in the early 13th century in the Benedictine monastery of Podlažice in Bohemia, now a region in the modern-day Czech Republic. The manuscript is also known as the Devil's Bible, due to its highly unusual full-page portrait of Satan, and the legend surrounding its creation. ![]() Very large illuminated bibles were a typical feature of Romanesque monastic book production, but even within this group, the page-size of the Codex Gigas is noted as exceptional. The Codex Gigas ("Giant Book" Czech: Obří kniha) is the largest extant medieval illuminated manuscript in the world, at a length of 92 cm (36 in). The Codex Gigas opened to the page with the distinctive portrait of the devil from which the text received its alternative name, the Devil's Bible
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