Cover of the Gospels of Henry the Lion

The Gospels of Henry the Lion (Evangeliar Heinrichs des Löwen) was illuminated at Helmarshausen Abbey for Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony (1142-1195), cousin of Frederick Barbarossa.

The manuscript went to Prague in the late fourteenth century in the reign of Emperor Charles IV, where in 1594 it was given a new cover, commissioned by the dean of the cathedral, Georg Barthold Pontanus von Breitenberg. This is decorated with silver reliefs of the four evangelists and a crystal box containing relics of St Mark and the saintly King Sigismund.