Barcelona Haggadah

The Barcelona Haggadah is considered to be one of the most magnificent Jewish manuscripts of all! The collection of ceremonial prayers, which are to be read from the Haggadah on the eve of Passover, are **presented with exceptional splendor in this manuscript. This unusually magnificent and precious visual adornment on 138 pages indicates a wealthy and important patron. Unfortunately, this person remains unknown, nevertheless, the additional history of the 14th century manuscript can be determined by numerous notes in the codex. The marvelous artistic décor of the Barcelona Haggadah impresses with its quality and splendor on every page of the manuscript and is simultaneously an important attestation of Jewish life in medieval Spain!

A Magnificent Spanish Haggadah

Manuscript Ms. 14761 of the British Library in London is an exceptional specimen of Spanish-Jewish culture in the 14th century. The manuscript known today the Barcelona Haggadah was probably made in Barcelona ca. 1340, a center of first-class illumination at that time. The lavish and unusually splendid décor of the codex presents the Haggadah as a status symbol of its owner, as well as indicating the good taste of its unknown patron!

The Ceremonial Manuscript

A Haggadah is a type of Jewish manuscript with a specific purpose: a collection of ceremonial prayers, texts, and songs, which were to be read on Seder, the eve of the Passover festival. The Seder feast on the occasion of the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity is traditionally celebrated with one’s family, and which is accompanied by readings from the Haggadah. That children should also sit at the table, to whom the story of the Israelites is to be retold in a playful manner, were provided for in the Haggadah’s colorful, entertaining miniatures.

Exceptional Visual Adornment

The Barcelona Haggadah is an outstanding specimen of a Haggadah, particularly because of its rich visual adornment. 138 of the manuscript’s 322 pages are splendidly illustrated. The typical full-page illustrations, which typically accompany biblical tales, are not found in the Barcelona Haggadah. This is more than offset by the exuberant illumination that embellishes all the pages of the manuscript: the Passover ritual is depicted, biblical stories are illustrated, but also the symbolic food and other details of the feast are recorded in the miniatures. Thus, the illustrations also offer a historically interesting inside view of Jewish life in medieval Spain.

Finest Ornamentation, Funny Figures, Noble Materials

Splendid gold script made of enhanced gold leaf adorns the pages. The visual adornment presents itself in gorgeous colors, which have maintained their luminosity to this day. Luxuriant bordures, enlivened with human figures, animals, and grotesque mythical creatures, adorn the pages. Here the miniaturist inserted animals, inter alia, which imitated human actions. Thus, the magnificent décor of the Barcelona Haggadah is also not short on humor.

Additional Provenance

Even if the wealthy patron of this exceptional Haggadah is unknown, the manuscript still offers an unusual amount of indications of its history. Thus there is an entry, in which it is recorded that a certain Shalom Latif of Jerusalem sold the manuscript in the year 1549 to Rabbi Moses ben Abraham of Bologna – for the considerable sum of 50 gold ducats, which is also recorded! Additional names from further owners are recorded in the book, until it reached the British Library in the year 1844.