Medieval Book of Hours

From private devotion to luxury manuscripts

Book of Hours of Jean, Duc de Bérry, Brussels. Mother of God, 15th century. © Faksimile Edition, Lucerne.

Book of hours have been in use as prayer and devotional books for laypersons since the 12th century. These books were richly illustrated and adorned and held in high esteem. The book of hours "Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry" from the Duke of Berry (1340 to 1416) was created at the beginnig of the 15th century and is considered as the most famous and valuable of the genre.
This work of art consists of thwelve monthly compositions accompanied by calendar pages, depicting lively everyday scenes mixing the secular and the devotional, the humorous with the solemn. The chief artists were the brothers Nijmegem in Holland.

Shown simutaneously with the main exhibitions MARIA MAGDALENA MAURITIUS which focuses on the public worship of saints, this exhibit presents almost 20 books of hours from the 14th to 16th centuries used mainly for private devotion.

The facsimile editions presented here are a donation of the Faksimlie Verlag Luzern and almost match the original woriks in terms of quality and luminosity. The great advantage is of course that the interested visitors can flip through page by page and discover the fascinating details of these miniature paintings.