EXHIBITION IS UNEXPECTED RESULT OF THE TRANSPORTATION DISRUPTION IN EUROPE

Great Symbol of Liberty Is Part of the Manuscripts Collection of England’s Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, which Made Generous Offer to the Morgan

One of the earliest original manuscripts of Magna Carta dating to 1217 goes on exhibition Wednesday, April 21, at The Morgan Library & Museum. This extremely rare and important document came to New York for a special event for Oxford University but could not be returned to Britain because of the disruption to air traffic caused by the recent volcanic ash cloud. The Bodleian Library generously offered the Morgan the opportunity to exhibit Magna Carta while new arrangements were being made to transport it back to England. The document is on view at the Morgan through May 30.

This particular manuscript is one of four original versions of Magna Carta held by the Bodleian Library, and it had never before left Britain since being issued almost eight hundred years ago. Magna Carta or “Great Charter of English Liberties” was signed by King John at Runnymede on June 15, 1215 and was reissued throughout the thirteenth century by England’s rulers. It is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy and includes such fundamental rights as habeas corpus.