The Codex Sinaiticus Project
The Codex Sinaiticus Project has five principal activities:
Historical research
In order to clarify the circumstances under which Codex Sinaiticus came to be dispersed between the four institutions holding parts of the manuscript today, the project has undertaken new archival research to identify and study all relevant archival documents. The documents identified through this research are being used as the basis for a new account of the modern history of Codex Sinaiticus, to be agreed by all four partner institutions. [More…]
Conservation
The conservation strategy for the Codex Sinaiticus Project was set out by its Conservation Working Party. An initial assessment of the manuscript's leaves in all four locations investigated how much work would be required to stabilise them before digitisation and to preserve them for the future. A detailed assessment has been carried out in London, Leipzig and St Petersburg and is underway in St Catherine's Monastery. [More…]
Digitisation
Digitial photography of the geographically distributed leaves of Codex Sinaiticus is central to the Project's virtual reunification of the manuscript. Careful imaging of the original leaves provides a life-like view of the pages, thus allowing, for the first time, worldwide access to the manuscript. Images of every leaf were taken under evenly distributed ('standard') lighting for the main view of the manuscript. Images of every leaf have also been taken under raking light (i.e. lighting only from an angle) to emphasise the physical characteristics of the manuscript. [More…]
Transcription
A major research project which is led by the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing (ITSEE) at the University of Birmingham and funded by the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council, has transcribed the texts of Codex Sinaiticus. The result is a uniquely detailed digital transcription of a Biblical codex. [More…]
Dissemination
The project has identified a range of products that will build upon the full scholarly reappraisal of the Codex and its texts and will also help to bring alive this iconic manuscript for everyone. The website is the main medium for making Codex Sinaiticus accessible. Other project outputs include a print facsimile, a conference, an exhibition and a popular book. [More…]
