Bible Museum Münster is a museum located in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

, Germany, telling the story of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

from its handwritten beginnings until today. The main focus lies on the tradition of Greek New Testament as well as the German Bible. The museum forms part of the

Institute for New Testament Textual Research The Institute for New Testament Textual Research (german: Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung — INTF) at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its G ...

at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over ...

History

The museum was founded as a department of the

Kurt Aland Kurt Aland (28 March 1915 – 13 April 1994) was a German theologian and biblical scholar who specialized in New Testament textual criticism. He founded the '' Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung'' (Institute for New Testament Textua ...

and was opened with a ceremonial act on 8 March 1979 in the presence of Federal President

Walter Scheel Walter Scheel (; 8 July 1919 – 24 August 2016) was a German statesman. A member of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), he first served in government as the Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 1961 to 1966 and l ...

. It was the first and only Bible museum worldwide at that time. In 1983,

Barbara Aland Barbara Aland, née Ehlers (born 12 April 1937 in Hamburg, Germany) is a German theologian and was a Professor of New Testament Research and Church History at Westphalian Wilhelms-University of Münster until 2002. Biography After having c ...

became its director and she was followed in October 2004 by Holger Strutwolf.

Collection

The museum exhibits include: * Earliest Greek

manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand – or, once practical typewriters became available, typewritten – as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in ...

on papyrus, parchment and paper * Representative of the Greek printed books New Testament * Bible illustrations by famous painters such as Hans Holbein and

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

* The history of the English Bible: by pre-Lutheran translations via Luther Bible to today's translations in different dialects * An original reproduction of the

Gutenberg Press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the c ...

* Bible Polyglot: Multilingual editions (Latin, Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian etc.) as a mirror of science * The work of the

United Bible Societies The United Bible Societies (UBS) is a global fellowship of around 150 Bible Societies operating in more than 240 countries and territories. It has working hubs in England, Singapore, Nairobi and Miami. The headquarters are located in Swindon, Eng ...

The basis of its holdings is a private collection. Some parts of the older holdings of the Institute of New Testament Textual Research were added. Over the years the collection was expanded further with significant exhibits; it is augmented by changing items on loan from a private manuscript collector from Norway. In April 2010, the Bible Museum in Germany received the largest private collection of Bibles from collector Walter Remy. This classical language Bible collection includes 379 Latin, Greek and 16 200 multilingual Bibles from the 16th to the 18th century. Since the Bible Museum is part of the

(INTF) which holds some original manuscripts of the New Testament, those manuscripts can be seen in the Bible Museum in Münster. *Minuscules:

676 __NOTOC__ Year 676 ( DCLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 676 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

798 __NOTOC__ Year 798 ( DCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday A common year starting on Monday is any non-leap year (i.e., a year with 365 days) that begins on Monday, 1 January, and ends on Monday, 31 December. Its dominical letter h ...

1432 Year 1432 ( MCDXXXII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * January 1 – Iliaș succeeds his father as Prince of Moldavia. * Spring – A ...

, 2444, 2445,

2446 In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 ( 21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is ...

, 2460, 2754, 2755, 2756, 2793; *Lectionaries: ℓ''1681'', ℓ''1682'', ℓ''1683'', ℓ''1684'' (lower script

Uncial 0233 Uncial 0233 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament. The manuscript paleographically had been assigned to the 8th-century. Description It contains a text of the four Gospels, on 93 parchment leave ...

), ℓ''1685'', ℓ''1686'', ℓ''2005'', ℓ''2137'', ℓ''2208'', and ℓ''2276''.

External links

Official Website of the Bible Museum Münster

TV report (with English subtitles) on the grand opening of the Bible Museum/Münster in March 1979 and the work of the INTF and Interview of Kurt Aland, 1979

References

* https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/bibelmuseum/flyer_bibelmuseum.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Bible Museum Munster University of Münster Bible-themed museums, zoos, and botanical gardens Christian museums Museums established in 1979 Museums in Münster Religious museums in Germany

History

Collection

See also

External links

References