BACKGROUND IMAGES
It is with particular gratitude to the Fondation Martin Bodmer in Cologny (Switzerland) that we use four ancient manuscripts from their remarkable collection in order to symbolise how we draw on our rich human heritage for our contributions in non-digitalisable thought, i.e. visions, strategy, culture and ethics.
VISIONS PAGE
The background image on the visions page shows a page from the “Codex Guarneri” which was written on paper fewer than twenty years after the death of Dante. The poetic form used in the textual layout, the tercet or “terza rima”, which was introduced by Dante, is enhanced by the graphic design: the first letter in the first line of each three-line stanza is highlighted in red ink. The manuscript contains Latin glosses.
STRATEGY PAGE
The background image on the strategy page shows an extract from the handscroll of Daihannya-haramitta-kyō, the Sutra of Great Wisdom, chapter five hundred and forty, which consists of a simple sheet of paper without mounting. The complete version of the sutra encompasses six-hundred chapters. It was introduced to China from India by the monk, scholar and translator Xuanzang, who translated the sutra into Chinese in the 7th century before it was imported into Japan. The sutra is written in black ink on high-quality paper, very likely kōzo-shi, which is made using the fibre of Broussonetia papyrifera or paper mulberry tree, especially treasured and used for important documents during the early periods of Japanese history such as the Nara and Heian periods.
CULTURE PAGE
The background image on the culture page shows an extract of the Qu’ran, from the 9th century, in kufic writing on parchment.
ETHICS PAGE
The background image on the ethics page shows a manuscript of the Iliad on paper, which was copied during the 13th century in Terra d’Otranto, a famous centre of Greek culture in southern Italy. The text by Homer is accompanied by interlinear and marginal scholia and commentaries by the Byzantine scholar John Tzetzes.