A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time?
Researchers suggest that the mysterious Voynich manuscript may have been mis-bound for centuries, potentially changing the interpretation of its botanical and astronomical content. The study argues that the pages were originally stacked rather than nested, which could alter the understanding of the manuscript's intended function.
Why it matters
This discovery could provide a breakthrough in understanding one of the world's most enduring historical and cryptographic puzzles.
Folded page from the Voynich manuscript. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Folded page from the Voynich manuscript. Photograph: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images Culture A medieval manuscript has confounded scholars for centuries. Have they been reading it wrong all this time? Researchers argue incorrect binding of Voynich manuscript radically changes ideas about its drawings and indecipherable text
Prefer the Guardian on Google It has been called the world’s most mysterious manuscript: a medieval set of pages filled with botanical drawings, astronomical diagrams, pictures of nude women and indecipherable text. Claimed at various times to be a book in a lost language, a musical score, an instruction manual or just an elaborate hoax, the so-called Voynich manuscript’s true meaning has defied cryptographers and codebreakers for centuries.
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