The website handrit.is, which provides digital access to ancient Icelandic manuscripts dating back hundreds of years and is hosted by the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, was formally opened last month by Minister of Education and Culture Katrín Jakobsdóttir.
Ancient Icelandic manuscripts on display at the Culture House. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
Attendees of the Árni Magnússon Institute’s general meeting pointed out how valuable the manuscripts preserved by the institute are. The collection includes registries of place names, folklore and information on the origin of words, mbl.is reports.
With the new website, digital access is provided to manuscripts from the collection of the Árni Magnússon Museum in Copenhagen, the National and University Library of Iceland and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. Access is also provided to digital photographs of the manuscripts.
Approximately 200,000 pages from 851 manuscripts have been scanned for this project.
