Codex Gigas Set of 3 gold medals 2008 Proof

RAZITKO_POSTOVNE_ZDARMA_NENI

A luxury set of three Codex Gigas gold medals issued in October 2008 in 999.9 purest gold in a very limited edition of only 750 pieces. The coins are supplied in a black leather case along with a certificate of authenticity. This set is rarely obtained and is not only highly sought after by collectors.

Codex Gigas

The Codex Gigas is the largest manuscript book (codex) in the world. It was probably written at the beginning of the 13th century in a monastery near Chrudim. It is commonly referred to as the Latin-Greek Codex gigas (translated as "Huge Book"), or in Czech as Codex gigas, or also as the Devil's Bible, based on the exceptional depiction of the devil. The author's intention was to summarize all knowledge in a single work, to create a kind of "library in a single book".

The Codex Gigas is bound in wooden boards covered with light leather, with metal decorations. The size of the boards is 920×505×220 mm. It originally contained 320 parchment sheets (i.e. 640 pages) with a size of 890×490 mm. Eight leaves were cut out, it is not known when, by whom or why. The removed leaves probably contained the rules of the Benedictine order. The weight of the entire codex is 75 kg, the skins of 160 donkeys were used to produce the necessary parchment.

The codex was probably created in the monastery of Podlažice near Chrudim. The records in the codex end in 1229. In 1245 the codex was seized from the Cistercian monastery in Sedlec. Pavel Bavor of Nečtin (1290-1332) bought it for the monastery of Břevnov in 1295. In 1477-1593 the codex was in the monastery in Broumov. In March 1594 it was taken to Prague, where it became part of the collection of Emperor Rudolf II.

At the end of the Thirty Years' War, in 1648, the Swedish army managed to make an unexpected raid on Prague (they only captured the left bank), during which they captured treasures of great value - among other things, the contents of Rudolf's Kunstkammer, which was taken to Stockholm. The manuscript has since been deposited in the Royal Library in Stockholm and despite repeated efforts it has not been recovered from Sweden. Not far from its place of origin, in the exhibition of the Municipal Museum in Chrast, it is commemorated at least by a model. From September 2007 to March 2008 it was on loan for an exhibition at the Klementinum in Prague.

According to legend, a monk who sinned lived in the monastery. To avoid the severe punishment of being walled up alive, he vowed to write the greatest book containing all the knowledge of the world in one night. He was given all the material he needed and set to work. By midnight it was clear to him that he could not accomplish the task, and he sold his soul to the devil. He wrote the whole masterpiece for him, but with great self-denial, disgust and distaste. The monk only added his picture out of gratitude. In spite of this legend of its composition, the Codex Gigas was long used, read and studied by various scholars, and was never the subject of investigation by the Inquisition.