The Museum of the Ways of the Gaudí Palace presents as ‘Piece of the Month’ a facsimile of the 12th century Codex Calixtinus. It will be on display throughout the month of July in a prominent place on the second floor of the Gaudí Palace. This is the month in which the apostle, patron saint of Spain, is commemorated and whose feast day is celebrated on July 25.
The Codex Calixtinus is one of the main medieval peninsular codices, as well as being the first known copy of the Liber Sancti Iacobi, which brings together a wide range of texts referring to the apostle St. James. The original text from which this edition is taken is in the archives of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia).
Anonymously written, these texts are organized in five books, gathering liturgical writings about St. James (masses, antiphons or hymns), miracles attributed to the apostle, narrations of the “Traslatio”, the incursion of Charlemagne with his army into Hispania to liberate the north of the peninsula from the Muslims and to favor the pilgrimage to Compostela or the discovery of the tomb of the apostle. The last book, the most famous, offers a Pilgrim’s Guide, describing the stages from France to Compostela.
It is a carefully elaborated work, with several illuminated capital letters, miniatures of Calixtus II, the apostle Santiago or Charlemagne. It is undoubtedly the cornerstone of the Jacobean tradition from the documentary point of view.
The Gaudí Palace can be visited from Monday to Sunday from 10:00 to 14:00 hours and in the afternoons from 16:00 to 20:00 hours.