400 YEARS OF RELIGIOUS & ROYAL MEMORABILIA

What I relish about living in London is the sheer number and variety of fascinating exhibitions on at any one time.

Today I visited the 'Treasures of Lambeth Library', marking the 400th anniversary (1610-2010) of its founding in Lambeth Palace, historic residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury, on the south bank of the river Thames.

I`d expected to find a sea of purely ecclesiastical volumes from the collection of around 6,000 early books and manuscripts lining the Great Hall.

Instead I found myself gazing on such unique items as Charles Ist`s leather gloves (handed to the Bishop of London who attended him on the scaffold), a letter written by Elizabeth I informing the Earl of Shrewsbury of her recovery from smallpox, and the royal physician`s report, dated 1811 referring to the `malady` of King George: `He was so turbulent this morning we had to use restraints”…

Evocative stuff, but the main body of the exhibition is devoted to early books, many lavishly and meticulously illustrated such as the twelfth century Lambeth Bible whose frontispiece to the Book of Genesis is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque art and the pocket-sized MacDurnan Gospels, written in Ireland and gifted to Christ Church, Canterbury by the King of Wessex c.939.

Equally fascinating is the personal prayer-book of Elizabeth I believed to have been designed by Levina Teerlink, the Flemish miniaturist who served as painter to the Tudor Court.

Other key items which caught my eye were an extremely rare Babylonian Talmud, a Byzantine manuscript from Constantinople and papers relating to the reconstruction of St Paul`s cathedral following the Great Fire of London.

Great names from the past jog the memory: there is a set of the works of Aristotle printed in fifteenth century Venice and a nautical chart on vellum depicting the voyages of Magellan in the then known world. Samuel Pepys is among several historic celebrities noted in a book of benefactors.

I could only gaze in awe at such treasures and while to name a single item is almost invidious, I would say the copy of the warrant for Mary Queen of Scot`s execution, signed by Elizabeth I is not to be missed.

Such a unique exhibition will never travel overseas so London visitors are well advised to visit the library before the heavy doors swing shut on 23rd July. open 10.00-17.000 Mon-Saturday.

Images courtesy: www. Lambethpalacelibrary.org

MacDurnan Gospels, 9th century St Matthew`s Gospel.

Prayer-book of Elizabeth I depicting the Queen kneeling in prayer.

Copy of the warrant for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots

signed 8 February 1587

RELIGIOUS PHOTOGRAPHY

SENSITIVITY IS A KEY ELEMENT

Capturing people in the private act of worship is the most sensitive and difficult aspect of any genre of photography. The opposite of “celebrity photography,” where the subject generally wants to be seen, a person in communication with their “higher power` prefers to be left in peace.

Patience is an asset. One is often advised of location only to arrive and find nothing happening. Or that the ceremony was held last Sunday. Or that it is rescheduled for next Sunday. Or that despite the priest-imam-rabbi`s- blessing, someone objects to being photographed.

With permission to photograph Sunday Mass in Havana Cathedral, I was waiting discreetly behind a column when another photographer walked in and began blitzing the congregation with a powerful flash.

“Will the photographer behind the pillar please stop taking pictures!” said the priest, in the middle of dispensing the Holy Sacraments. He had assumed it was me, and I slunk out without a single picture.

There were many moments like this during the years it took to build up a stock of world faiths, but helped by contributing photographers, the World Religions Photo Library celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2009.

The collection features the mainstream religions - Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, as well as other faiths and cults searchable on-line. Subjects include traditional religious life in various contexts and locations worldwide, notably people practising their faith, rites of passage, sacred foods, festivals and pilgrimage, worship and dress. The site is linked to a second website focussing on faith travel and sacred sites, many of which feature on the World Heritage List.

c. Christine Osborne

Image: A temple in Mandalay Burma

www.worldreligions.co.uk

www.religious-tourism.com