Manuscript illumination of a haloed figure, Saint Luke, seated at a writing stand

The Making of a Medieval Manuscript

Now showing4 August 2026 – 14 March 2027Free

Traces the four hand-crafted stages of a medieval book (preparing parchment, writing, painting and binding) through manuscripts from the Museum's collection.

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On now All of November 2026

Saint Luke, painted in the Irmengard Codex shortly after 1053, sits at his desk with a quill in one hand and a knife in the other. The knife sharpened the quill, held the page down and scraped away mistakes: the medieval delete key.

The show follows a book through four stages, Parchment Making, Writing, Illuminating and Binding, with the tools shown beside the manuscripts. You begin at a whole goatskin stretched on a wooden frame and the curved lunar knife used to thin it, and finish at a German Bible whose iron hook once chained it to a library shelf. In between are Christian books from Europe, Armenia and Ethiopia, a 9th-century Qur'an written in gold and a Jewish Pentateuch from 1296.

Entry is free with a timed reservation. It's on the lower level of the Museum West Pavilion, labels are in English and Spanish, and the Getty is open until 9pm on Saturdays. A second rotation of objects goes up on 24 November.

Look for

Saint Luke, Irmengard Codex
Look for the evangelist at his writing desk, quill in one hand and knife in the other, while his winged ox holds a bound Gospel book above him.
The unfinished Rohan Master leaf
The text is written and the gold laid, but the figures and buildings have only their first layer of colour: a painting stopped halfway.
Prayer Book of Charles the Bold, 1469
The scribe stretched the tops and tails of his letters into margin flourishes that turn into animals, people and hybrid creatures.
The chained Bible, about 1450
Leather-covered wooden boards with metal corners and two clasps, and an iron hook on the lower edge from when it was chained to a library shelf.
A 9th-century North African Qur'an
Arabic text written entirely in gold, where the calligraphy itself is the decoration.