Monuments of Book culture: Four original surviving Magna Carta manuscripts are brought together for the first time

Magna Carta is one of the world’s most influential documents – an agreement granted by King John in 1215 as a practical solution to a political crisis, which in the centuries since has become a potent symbol of liberty and the rule of law.

Today the British Library, Lincoln Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral have made history by bringing those four original surviving Magna Carta manuscripts together in one place, for the first time. This unification event, sponsored by the global law firm Linklaters, is taking place at the British Library over the next three days, and is part of a year of international celebrations to mark the 800th anniversary of the issue of the Charter by King John in 1215.

The original Magna Carta manuscripts were dispatched over a period of a few weeks in late June and early July 1215. The surviving four, which have never all been in the same place before, were brought together at the British Library for three days, from Monday 2 February to Wednesday 4 February.

Following the event, the manuscripts then traveled to the House of Lords for one further day on Thursday 5 February, before being separated and put on display by their home institutions in major anniversary exhibitions: the British Library will host Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy from 13 March-1 September, Salisbury Cathedral will open their new permanent exhibition Magna Carta: Spirit of Justice, Power of Words from 6 March, and Lincoln Cathedral's Magna Carta will go on display in Magna Carta: Power, Justice and Accountability in the newly-built David P. J. Ross Magna Carta Vault at Lincoln Castle from 1st April 2015.