Ramm (Royal Albert Museum and Art Gallery) in Exeter is a wonderful place to visit and with free entrance and can be enjoyed for whatever bit of time you can manage when you visit Exeter.
One of the current exhibitions is Gatekeepers to Heaven which brings back to Exeter six exceptional medieval manuscripts which until 1602 resided in the Exeter Cathedral library. The oldest of these, the Leofric Missal was made in Canterbury and Exeter between about 850 and 1020.
The beauty of these books is hard to describe and the exhibition as a whole sheds light on the medieval world and Exeter’s place in it. Runs until 3rd September when the manuscripts will be returned to Oxford. Some of the content is digitised and can be scrolled through on the viewer.
The image on the left below is possibly the first self-portrait! Hugo the painter/scribe. The image on the right is from the manuscript Jerome, commentary on Isaiah.
