Codex Manesse is Unesco World Documentary Heritage
The medieval song collection Codex Manesse, created in Zurich around 1300, is officially inscribed on the Unesco World Heritage List at a ceremony at the University of Heidelberg.
The Codex Manesse was created in its basic form around 1300 in Zurich - presumably at the instigation of Rüdiger Manesse and his son Johannes, who wanted to compile Middle High German song poetry in all its variety of genres and forms. Several supplements were added until around 1340. The manuscript comprises 426 parchment leaves written on both sides. It contains the texts of 140 poets in around 6000 stanzas. More than half of the works have survived exclusively in this manuscript. The representative design of the Codex Manesse is also of outstanding artistic quality. The texts are preceded by 137 full-page miniatures in color: They show the poets in idealized form during courtly activities.
The Codex will be the focus of a festive event on September 19, 2023 to mark its inclusion in this list. Maria Böhmer, President of the German Commission for UNESCO, will give a welcoming address. Knut Zuchan, Head of the Unit for Multilateral Cultural Policy/UNESCO at the Federal Foreign Office, will present the certificate. This will be followed by three academic lectures on the outstanding cultural significance of the Codex Manesse.
