Exclusive Update on MSI & Expedition: Oslo

In 2023, the Oslo Katedralskole (Oslo Cathedral School)–originally founded in 1153 and regarded as one of the country’s most prestigious schools–received a massive collection of ancient documents, including 1,105 manuscript volumes from the Papal, Cardinal and Napoleonic libraries (Italy, France, England, Spain 1300-1800).

The collection, known among scholars as the “Schøyen Collection,” contains many New Testament manuscripts along with many other early Christian documents. Despite containing critical source material to European history and culture, the collection is almost entirely unstudied and unpublished, and has remained as a whole in the Phillipps and Schøyen collections for nearly 190 years.

That is, until now. 

Last year, while our team was digitizing various manuscript collections across Germany, the Oslo Cathedral School invited us to digitize virtually any artifact that we desire from the renowned collection. So, we added a week to our expedition and took the opportunity to digitize 3 Greek New Testament manuscripts dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries. 

We also identified another 18 Old and New Testament manuscripts in Greek Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian that we would like to digitize and add to our digital manuscript collection. Notably, some date all the way back to the 4^th century while others appear to be palimpsests–a document whose original text was scraped off and written over. This summer, our team will return to Oslo with newly upgraded multispectral imaging (MSI) equipment—technology that will allow us to reveal text that hasn’t been seen for thousands of years!

This work is only possible because of your faithful, monthly support and we’re grateful to have you with us as we continue advancing this project together.

Take a look at a few behind-the-scenes moments from our first visit to Oslo below.