Art News

Only Copy of Magna Carta in the United States Treated at National Archives in Washington

WASHINGTON (AP).- A painstaking conservation effort to remove old patches and repair weak spots in a 714-year-old copy of the Magna Carta has revealed that the full text of that English declaration of human rights remains intact even though some words are faded and illegible to the eye, the National Archives said Tuesday. A $13.5 million gift from philanthropist David Rubenstein — owner of the handwritten document — is funding the conservation effort as well preparations for an upcoming exhibit. Thanks to the gift, the largest cash donation to the National Archives, the copy of the Magna Carta eventually will be shown as a forerunner to the freedoms imagined in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Plans call for exhibiting it along with documents showing the struggle for rights of African Americans, women, immigrants and others. The Magna Carta bears the seal of King Edward I and is dated 1297. It is one of 17 known handwritten copies