on Cosmos, Silence, the Apocalypse, the Seventh Seal, manuscripts

As Jesus opens the seventh seal, an unimaginable silence falls over the whole of Creation—over angels, over every living thing—paralysing them with awe and uncertainty. For half an hour, the cosmos holds its breath, not knowing what will come next. Such is the silence that falls after the opening of the Seventh Seal—where galaxies pause, and the cosmos listens in wonder.

The Silos Codex, that magnificent twelfth-century illuminated manuscript of the Apocalypse, made an impactful attempt to convey this silence through an image in the text, portraying the heavens in absolute suspense.

 The Silence is captured in the simple, yet profound, yellow ‘cover’ on the text of the Silos Codex manuscript—

A single color that carries such weight.

A silence so profound, it suspends the universe.

Another image from the illuminated manuscripts of the Silos Apocalypse.

Writers and artists are endlessly being inspired by The Book of Revelation. From the medieval manuscripts to the creatives throughout the centuries, many felt the impulse to write and create – their ideas immersed with the words and images of the Apocalypse.

Let’s jump along the timelines… From the 12th-century Silos Codex to 20th-century Milan, where Umberto Eco wrote one of his masterpieces. This is a novel immersed in symbolism, apocalyptic elements, and manuscripts, presenting a mystery of medieval intrigue.

For readers interested in the Apocalypse and/or obsessed with Umberto Eco’s art of the intellectual mystery, the metaphysical historical novel, and the philosophical whodunit, The Name of the Rose is steeped in apocalyptic themes and set in a 14th-century monastery where it unfolds. A wealthy monastery, murders, heresy, intrigue, and knowledge will keep readers thinking and immersed in a novel like only Eco could write.