Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili purchased a unique handwritten manuscript of the 10th-century by the famed Georgian calligrapher, author, translator and bookbinder-monk John Zosimos for about £1,000,000 at Christie's auction in London.
The palimpsest is overwritten with Georgian text written by John Zosimos, and survives in his 10th-century binding from St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, the earliest known signed, dated and localisable binding.
The manuscript contained the earliest textual witnesses of the Gospels in the nearest dialect of Aramaic to that spoken by Jesus.
The Codex Sinaiticus Rescriptus, the unique manuscript of the 5th-7th century, would be donated to the Georgian National Museum.
The manuscript will be the only masterpiece of Ioane Zosimos, which will be preserved in Georgia.
