Bible of the 500th

More than 15,000 visitors to the MIR participated in the printing of this Bible between June 4 and October 31, 2017. It was produced on a press inspired by the ancestral model invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1453.

Installed in the heart of the “PRINT! The first pages of a revolution”, this mechanism of the Reformation reminded us for 130 days that there is no cultural or religious upheaval without the contribution of a technological revolution. 500 years after the birth of the Reformation in 1517, the creation by hand of a contemporary Bible in the format of a 16th century volume has highlighted the central project of Protestantism consisting of allowing everyone to have access to both Testaments and to be able to understand them in their own language.
Illustrated by four contemporary artists of international reputation (John Armleder, Marc Bauer, Mai-Thu Perret and Vidya Gastaldon), this unique copy in a format of 23 cm x 35.3 cm reproduces the texts of the Bible from Bayard editions of 2001, composed in the Erasmus MMXVI typeface created in Basel in 2016. It was printed on artisanal paper made by Papiermühle in Basel and bound by Jean-Luc Honegger of Bernex.

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Bible of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation

The Bible for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation was printed by more than 15,000 visitors to the MIR between June 4 and October 31, 2017.

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