Original Magna Carta’s united for the first time to celebrate 800th anniversary

This week Lincoln’s Magna Carta has been united with the three other surviving copies of the original 1215 Magna Carta at a special exhibition at the British Library.

Lincoln’s Magna Carta has recently returned from a tour in the United States where it was on display in Massachusetts and Washington, DC, attracting over 200,000 people who went to view it.

In a joint statement the British Library, Lincoln and Salisbury Cathedrals said “King John could surely never have anticipated the enduring global legacy of Magna Carta when he agreed to its terms in 1215. Eight hundred years later, the international interest and excitement about this unification event is testament to the extraordinary significance and symbolic power of these four manuscripts.”

Today 1,215 people have viewed the four manuscripts in the British Library after winning a chance to attend this unique event through a public ballot. The opportunity attracted ballot entries from 43,715 applicants from over 20 countries.

After an event at the Houses of Parliament later this week each Magna Carta will return to their own institutions for major exhibitions during 2015. Lincoln’s Magna Carta will be the centrepiece of the new David PJ Ross Magna Carta Vault at Lincoln Castle which re-opens on April 1^st after four years of restoration and conservation work.