A Really Really Old Cup and Lots of Ancient Books

In Leon, we visited the basilica and museum of San Isodoro.  There were many very interesting things to look at and learn about, including the pantheon, a chalice that has been used since the eleventh century, and a library of books from across the ages.

The chalice of Dona Urraca is made out of two onyx bowls held together by gold and jewels.  The gold and jewels were added by Dona Urraca herself around 1063.  Stones such as emeralds and amethysts adorn the chalice as well as a carving of a smiling face which is believed to be a Roman cameo of some sort.  Around the base, the inscription "In Nomine Domini Vrraca Ferdinandi" or "In the name of God, Ferdinand's Urraca."  This chalice was used up until 1981 when it was then placed in the museum.  In 2014, research linked this chalice to the Holy Grail.  From this research, it is believed the bowls used to create the chalice are what Christ used at the Last Supper.

The library in the museum contained some of the oldest books written.  The construction of the library was commissioned in 1534 by Juan de Badajoz.  There are many different codices kept there as well as bibles and hymnals.  The crowning jewel of space is the Visigothic-Mozarabic Bible from 960.  This bible was copied by hand in Latin, but has 80 different notes made in Arabic in the margins to help some of the passages become clearer to the readers of the time.  The original binding has been replace, but otherwise the entire Bible is still intact.  There is also a large collection of hymnals and choir books.  These books are large and were used for the entire choir to read off of the same book during mass.

Both of these artifacts were incredibly amazing to see, and very interesting to learn about.  I was amazed at how old the chalice was, and I couldn't believe that it was being used until so recently.  As a musician, it was also really cool to see the choir books.  I remember learning about them in some of my classes, and I never dreamed I would actually see an original copy of not one, but a whole collection of them.  Overall, we had a great time and learned a lot about the basilica of San Isodoro and the history of Leon.

We were sadly not allowed to take pictures during our tour of the museum, so the images below come from the museum's website.

http://www.museosanisidorodeleon.com/sala-del-cliz-eng
http://www.museosanisidorodeleon.com/biblioteca-eng