23 pages of Francisk Skorina’s Bible made available to general public

24 августа 2017

By Olga Medved: Thanks to modern technology, 23 pages of the Bible printed by Francisk Skorina are now available to the general public. This electronic version does not match the original size of the Bible - it is 1.4 m by 1.8 m. The viewers do not need to touch it to turn a page - a wave of a hand is enough. A special photo device does all the work.

Together with the Bible, the exhibition also features the printing press that Skorina used to create his first book - it is a replica made by Yury Suhov. They decided not to simplify the device and the printing technique for the viewers - the process is very realistic, except that the paint is not natural, and modern technologies are used as well.

The letters used for printing were created from special metal alloys, and they are more durable than wood. The paper is firmly attached, then the letters are outlined, and then the would-be page of a book falls under the pressure of the press that weighs 4,135 kilograms. While publications were not made by hand, the printing was sometimes done to imitate a real handwriting - such books were many times more expensive.

The movements look swift and easy now. However, during the times of Francisk Skorina, it took considerably more time to print a page, not to mention to make paper. That paper could last 5 centuries, though. Today, paper falls apart in literally decades.