Lindisfarne Gospels get limited loan to the North East

Mar 25 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

THE British Library has announced a limited loan agreement which will see the Lindisfarne Gospels come to the North East for just three months every seven years.

The historic book has been at the centre of a long-running campaign to see it returned to its historic home for good.

But last night campaigners vowed that despite the Library’s announcement, they would to continue their fight for the Gospels to be permanently housed in the region.

Arts groups, meanwhile, are hopeful that the first loan period could come as early as 2010, providing a much needed tourism boost to the region’s economy.

Minister for the North East Nick Brown said the head of the British Library had met with himself and other MPs yesterday where the two sides had “agreed to differ” over the calls for the book to be returned to the region where it was written and illustrated some 1,300 years ago.

British Library board member Sir Kenneth Calman, a former vice chancellor at the University of Durham, claimed that while he expected the region to continue making its case for the relocation, no consideration would be given to opening a North East branch of the library. He argued: “This is great for the people of the North East, so it means as early as 2010 people will be able to see this superb item. This is an exceptional move for us, a very important step forward.

“This is the first time we have done anything like this at all with such an important item.

“And for someone like me who has spent quite a bit of time in the North East, it is great to be able to see this coming back, yes, not as a permanent loan, but coming back on a regular basis none the less.”

Sir Kenneth said that the library’s board was “very aware” of how important the Lindisfarne Gospels are to the North East “and we wanted to do something which would help that”.

He claimed: “I’m not surprised some people will think we have not gone far enough, but this is certainly not a patronising pat on the head. This is a very important step for us to take this move. We recognise these ambitions and I’m sure they will not go away.”