4:30 p.m.– 6 p.m.

Lecture by Marek Zágora. Only in Czech.

The lecture will be streamed live on Facebooku and the gallery’s YouTube channel.

One of the most beautiful and richly illuminated manuscripts at the Austrian National Library in Vienna is Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina, created in Northern Italy at the end of the 14th century. This lavishly illustrated medical handbook was aimed mainly at non-experts, particularly aristocratic ladies. With 206 full-page miniatures, the manuscript depicts all aspects of human health and welfare in the 11th century, when the Arabic original was written. It was translated into Latin during the 13th century. Arab medicine had an excellent reputation in the Middle Ages, and it greatly influenced Western medicine. The Latin translation made the codex accessible to educated medieval Westerners, and it was widely used; several manuscripts have been preserved. The handbook is interesting not only for its texts, but also for the illuminations, which are surprisingly naturalistic in style. These illustrations give us a fascinating insight into everyday medieval life.

Booking advance necessary  

free entrance