Be part of Magna Carta history:

Missed out on the rare chance to see one of only four surviving 1215 Magna Carta on its six-month USA 800th anniversary exhibition tour ending this month?

If your travel plans include a British vacation, then Lincoln in East England may offer the next best thing.

The Great Charter will be brought to life like never before in this historic cathedral city that has been home to its Magna Carta for the last eight centuries.

From April 2015, Lincoln will offer a new $35m heritage visitor attraction – with Magna Carta taking pride of place in a state-of-the-art underground Vault for the anniversary of the sealing of the Charter.

It will be the only new-build, Magna Carta visitor attraction opening in England during the anniversary year and the only place in the world where both Magna Carta and the 1217 Charter of the Forest manuscript can be seen side-by-side.

Seven decades after it first visited the US, Lincoln Cathedral’s 1215 Magna Carta – the only one that travels outside of the UK – returns home after a tour taking in Boston, Williamstown and the Library of Congress, Washington DC.

Regarded as a cornerstone of democracy and constitutional law in the English-speaking world, Magna Carta was sealed in June 1215, temporarily ending a conflict between King John and rebellious English barons.  

Eight centuries later, the four remaining charters – two are at London’s British Library and the other at Salisbury Cathedral - will be brought together for the first time in history for a three-day unification at the British Library in February 2015, launching 800th anniversary commemorations across the UK.

But while that event is invitation only, special events will be held throughout the year at the various venues. For Lincoln – around two-and-a-half hours north of London and a couple of hours from Manchester and Birmingham airports – 2015 is going to be a big year.

A key location for Magna Carta 800, the David P J Ross Magna Carta Vault is just part of Lincoln Castle Revealed, a multi-million dollar restoration transforming William the Conqueror’s castle, set amidst medieval cobbled streets, into a world-class heritage visitor attraction.

From April 1, visitors to the Vault will be welcomed by a double-height 'wall of words' showing the full translated text of Magna Carta, with key phrases in gold, while a series of films on an 'in the round' cinema bring its history to life.

But the imposing stone castle will be revealing more stories too. Visitors can explore the towers and dungeons of the entire Medieval Wall Walk for the first time, while within the atmospheric Victorian Prison – used in the past as a location for TV hit Downton Abbey - they will come face to face with convicts and hear their stories.

A special joint attraction ticket will be available combining entry to Lincoln Cathedral - one of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe – and the new-look castle, not only giving visitors a chance to learn more about Lincoln’s Magna Carta, but enjoy access to two of England’s finest heritage attractions.
For more details about Lincoln Castle Revealed: www.lincolncastle.com

For visitor information about places to visit and stay in Lincoln and Lincolnshire, take a look at www.visitlincolnshire.com
 
Notes to editors
Lincoln Castle Revealed is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Lincolnshire County Council.
Lincoln is also home to the 1217 Charter of the Forest, a less well-known document that added to freedoms of Magna Carta. It is one of only two copies known to have survived - making Lincoln Castle the ONLY place in the world where these two hugely important documents can be seen in the same place.
“Magna Carta: Muse and Mentor” at the Library of Congress, which tells the story of the charter’s creation in England and emergence as an enduring document of constitutional law in the United States, ends January 19, 2015.