The collection Bibles of the world is a donation from Mr. Pere Roquet Ribó to the Archpriesthood of Andorra for its explicit placement in the Meritxell Sanctuary Basilica.

It comprises more than one thousand copies between bibles and new testaments, in various languages, dialects and supports.

Pere Roquet started his collection in 1995 during a visit in Turkana (in the north of Kenya) to an NGO of which he is a member. During said visit, he obtained the first copy of the New Testament in Turkana language. After that, the various contacts with the Bible Society have contributed to the growth of the collection. But this collection, which represents an answer to its creator’s curiosity and character, was only able to acquire mean-ing and coherence after Mr. Roquet’s visits to most of the countries of origin of these copies.

It should be noted that this is quite a complete collec-tion, its ambition being to grow to contain, if possible, copies in all of the known languages of the world.

The bibles become a museum object representing a tangible testimony of values and immaterial stories and of the rich global linguistic diversity.

EXHIBITION

BIBLES OF THE WORLD

BIBLES WRITTEN IN MORE THAN 1.100

DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

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6 7

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BIBLE

A set of canonical or foundational books, also known as the Holy Scriptures, inspired by God and therefore considered normative by the Jewish and Christian religions. The parts or number of books (canons) vary according to the religion.

The Bible is the word of God to the believers. This sacred and revealed heritage, which constitutes the doctrinal base of Christian religious texts, deals throughout its books with the worship of God and the redemption of mankind.

The word bible comes from Greek (τα βιβλια), and is the plural form of papyrus, scroll or book, which was transferred to Latin as a singular feminine noun. While the Greek word highlights the composite aspect of the divine book, the multiplicity of the books it contains, the Latin one highlights its author and its uniqueness.

It is the most read and sold book in History and has been translated into more than 2.000 languages. It is known in the five continents and is considered the “book of books”. The Bible has a total of 1.189 chapters, out of which 929 belong to the Old Testament and 260 to the New Testament.

OLD TESTAMENT

Name given by Christians to the first part of the Bible, which con-tains the writings or the collection of books written before the time of Jesus Christ.

NEW TESTAMENT

Name translated from the Latin expression Novum Testamentum, given to the second part of the Bible which contains the writings dating from the first century after Jesus Christ. The name comes from Greek and means the new pact or testament. This expression

was used by the first Christians to describe their relationship with God (2Co 3,6-15 and He 19,15-20), and refers to the “new pact” between God and mankind as opposed to the “old pact” or “Old Testament” established with the people of Israel. God, who had in ancient times established His alliance with this people constituted a second and ultimate alliance with the whole of mankind through His Son, Jesus Christ, who after having brought the good news of salvation was condemned to die on the cross and was resuscitated on the third day.

THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC COLLECTION

As noted before, this bibliographic collection specializes in one single theme: the Bible.

This has allowed the development of one of the most ambitious proj-ects in terms of collecting. Despite the existence of several examples of compilations of Holy Scriptures in the world, none of them had been crafted by selecting each copy according to its language. This is what gives an added value to the task that M. Roquet has been carrying out for more than 22 years.

Most of the documents have been published during the second half of the 20th century, under the patronage of the various biblical societies and leagues established on a global scale. The important task they perform must be taken into account: some bibles would not have been published without their support, as some languages have very few users and these bibles create an almost nonexistent profit. Papua New Guinea is the most represented country, with 138 documents.

The documents from this collection can be consulted from the catalogue of the National Library of Andorra, which takes care of their management and conservation. The consultation is done under a special set of rules due to the specificity of both the collection and the place where it is located.

1. Casal i Vall Collection

Sapiential Books: Tobit, Judith, Ester, Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach. Andorra: Casal i Vall, DL 1966.

Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, Malachi. Andorra: Casal i Vall, DL 1967.

Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Andorra: Casal i Vall, DL 1969.

New Testament. Andorra: Casal i Vall, 1970.

2. New Testament: virat ar aranés dera BCI, Bíblia Catalana Interconfessionau. Vall d’Aran: Archpriesthood of Aran-Avescat Urgelh, 2010.

3. Fat Mata ogepma. New Guinea: The Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, 1997.

4. [Acts of the Apostles. Tokyo: Japanese Bible Society], 2009 (text in Japanese).

5. ЛУКАДИ УЛЭН МЭДЭ ПАДИ БИ ПАСИСАЛ [Lukadi Ulen Mede: Padi Bi Pasisal]. [S.l.]: Bibliiava Tungserei Institut, 1995.

6. U Vangelu sicondu Matteu, Marcu, Lucca è Ghjuvanni. Villiers le Bel: Société biblique française, 1994.

7. [The Bible of the earth]. Republic of Korea: [s.n.], 2002.

On the back:Fragments of the Bible in various languages (top to bottom): Greek, Bable (Asturias), Latin, Russian, Zapotecan (Mexico), Chinese, Esperanto, Hebrew and Syrian.