Most books are of the French and Flemish origin. There are a few books from Italy and Germany.
The exposition features the great variety of medieval manuscripts of Western Europe.
The collection of manuscripts began in Russia under Catherine the Great (1762-1796). Among the most prominent collectors, were the Stroganov Counts, the Golitsyn and Yusupov Princes and secretary of the Russian embassy to France Pyotr Dubrovsky (1754-1816). The latter collected over 400 medieval manuscripts. In 1805 he handed his collection to the Imperial Public Library where the Manuscript Depot project was launched. In 1805-1812 Pyotr Dubrovsky was the Depot keeper. He also kept the collection of the Zaluski Brothers (Polish aristocrats).
The State Hermitage and the Russian National Library prepared an illustrated catalogue of the manuscripts presented at the exhibition.
The exhibition will be running until June 19.
