Operation Red Star was something from the pages of a thriller. The challenge was how to get the most valuable artefacts from Lambeth Palace across its own garden to a new state-of-the-art library complex built on the east wall.
Experts were consulted. The security team at diamond company De Beers were included. An observer from the insurance company was booked to attend. With only staff notified on a need-to-know basis, the treasures, including the only copy of the death warrant for Mary, Queen of Scots, were whisked inside the Palace walls to their new home.
The Church of England is the national church that separated from Rome in the 16th century, in an event that shook the world. Its archives and vaults are a repository of religious and social history going back to the 9th century. Its library is therefore rated second in importance to the Vatican’s in Europe.
As Covid-19 lockdown measures ease, the managers have only just started opening the new red brick, temperature-controlled, sustainable structure completed last year. The new central London landmark has been 15 years in the making.
“We very carefully checked every item, checked its condition, packaged it up, carefully put it into crates, and we moved it inside the site so Red Star materials never left the site perimeter,” recounted Declan Kelly, the manager of the Library build for the Church of England. “We had someone from the insurance company there with us. And then we very carefully checked it all again when we got it to this site. And then we very carefully put them on the shelves.
“Things like Richard III's prayer book that was found in his tent at the Battle of Bosworth, [the Queen] Elizabeth I Prayer Book or the only surviving copy of the execution warrant of Mary, Queen of Scots. So very, very rare, valuable items.”
Among the history that the new library can show visitors are the ancient possessions brought back by early English travellers in the Levant and beyond, in what was then the Ottoman Empire.
Keen to ensure knowledge of the sacred texts, the owners would pass on the books and writings they brought back to their homeland to scholarly Church libraries or fellow clergy, and the gifts survive to this day. Now inside the modern reference library, it takes only a few minutes to retrieve the artefacts from storage.
A copy of extracts from the Quran donated by John Merritt, a Church of England cleric, in 1658 is part of the collection. It is still in its original binding and enduring evidence of the hunger for knowledge that went alongside the trade in spices and cloth done by English travellers to places like Constantinople and Smyrna.
“What’s extraordinary to think is that in the middle of the 17th century there is a London parish clergyman who is giving a Quran to his college library,” said Giles Mandelbrote, librarian and archivist for Lambeth Palace.
Another item is a Greek manuscript dating from the 15th century that was the personal possession of Meletios Pegas, a patriarch of Alexandria from 1590 that was later given as a diplomatic gift to William Abbott, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1610. It is a testament to the close relationship between the Eastern and English churches.
“This is a remarkable documented history,” Mr Mandelbrote said.
Stored in the new Lambeth vaults is the infamous Discourse on the Turks by Sir Thomas Shirley, who was imprisoned in Constantinople for almost three years in the early 1600s.
A second Quran shown to The National highlighted the level of intellectual interest in faiths beyond the English church hundreds of years ago.
“When works like these arrived in England there were only a relatively small number of people who could tell you what it was written in it,” he said. “When it arrived in England it then had a description written by Dr Edmund Castell, who is one of the most famous Arabists of the 17th century. This is his description in Latin of what is written in Arabic and Turkish so that normal scholars in England could get to the meaning of it.”
It was given to another Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sandcroft, a noted scholar, as part of an effort by the donor, John St John, to gain funding or a parish from the leader of the church.
Situated on the southern embankment of the river Thames, the red brick block is topped by a partially open upper floor and a seminar room with a view across London, including of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament on the other side of the river.
Not only does it seek to provide a haven for the scholars and curious members of the public who cross its threshold, the Library is a showcase of how to build in keeping with nature and a historic garden, the second biggest in London after the Queen’s.
“From the start, we wanted to make sure we were being as environmentally sound and environmentally friendly as possible,” said Mr Kelly. “We've designed it so all of the rainwater that falls on to the building flows down into a landscaped pond. We put solar panels on the roof so that we expect to get almost half the building's energy from solar. The power in the building is all electricity because we've moved away from installing gas boilers.
“The core of the building is of course about protecting the archives and there are a series of concrete boxes with really thick walls, then insulation and then gorgeous brickwork on the outside.
“What that gives us is control to achieve really stable temperatures and really stable relative humidity.”
In the functional floors, there is shelf after shelf of antiquity. Passing one metal stand with a tab indicating that etchings are stored within, Mr Kelly pulls out a folio.
The first piece he covers happens to be a sketch by the Dutch Old Master, Rembrandt.
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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If you go...
Etihad Airways flies from Abu Dhabi to Kuala Lumpur, from about Dh3,600. Air Asia currently flies from Kuala Lumpur to Terengganu, with Berjaya Hotels & Resorts planning to launch direct chartered flights to Redang Island in the near future. Rooms at The Taaras Beach and Spa Resort start from 680RM (Dh597).
Cry Macho
Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam
Rating:**
Uefa Nations League: How it Works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Race card
6.30pm: Al Maktoum Challenge Round-3 Group 1 (PA) US$100,000 (Dirt) 2,000m
7.05pm: Meydan Classic Listed (TB) $175,000 (Turf) 1,600m
7.40pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (D) 1,600m
8.50pm: Nad Al Sheba Trophy Group 2 (TB) $300,000 (T) 2,810m
9.25pm: Curlin Stakes Listed (TB) $175,000 (D) 2,000m
10pm: Handicap (TB) $135,000 (T) 2,000m
10.35pm: Handicap (TB) $175,000 (T) 1,400m
The National selections
6.30pm: Shahm, 7.05pm: Well Of Wisdom, 7.40pm: Lucius Tiberius, 8.15pm: Captain Von Trapp, 8.50pm: Secret Advisor, 9.25pm: George Villiers, 10pm: American Graffiti, 10.35pm: On The Warpath
if you go
The flights
Etihad, Emirates and Singapore Airlines fly direct from the UAE to Singapore from Dh2,265 return including taxes. The flight takes about 7 hours.
The hotel
Rooms at the M Social Singapore cost from SG $179 (Dh488) per night including taxes.
The tour
Makan Makan Walking group tours costs from SG $90 (Dh245) per person for about three hours. Tailor-made tours can be arranged. For details go to www.woknstroll.com.sg
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
Anghami
Started: December 2011
Co-founders: Elie Habib, Eddy Maroun
Based: Beirut and Dubai
Sector: Entertainment
Size: 85 employees
Stage: Series C
Investors: MEVP, du, Mobily, MBC, Samena Capital
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 2
(Martial 30', McTominay 90 6')
Manchester City 0
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