An image of the St Chad Gospel being made
An image of the St Chad Gospels being made

Experts from America have been helping to preserve some of Lichfield Cathedral’s finest treasures.

The 8th Century St Chad Gospels have been receiving 21st Century treatment thanks to a team of specialists from the University of Kentucky.

Led by Professor Bill Endres, the digitisation team spent two weeks at the Cathedral creating multispectral images of each folio of the Gospel.

A spokesperson for the Cathedral said:

“Written in Latin, in the Lindisfarne style, the manuscript contains 236 folios. Imaging so much material presented a mammoth undertaking for the members of the Kentucky team, who were assisted by a senior conservator from the British Library and a group of Cathedral volunteers.

“Due to the interest in the project, the process was also captured by the producers of the National Geographic documentary Saxon Gold – Finding the Hoard. Their interview with Professor Endres, recorded at the Cathedral, will be shown in the follow-up episode later in the year.”

The St Chad Gospel (dating from around 730), is usually on display in the Chapter House of Lichfield Cathedral daily.

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