This collection comprises the best items from an exceptional collection of written documents amassed by Martin Bodmer (1899-1971), to which he dedicated his life: cuneiform tablets, Greek and Coptic papyri including the oldest manuscripts of St John's Gospel, 300 incunabula works and hundreds of manuscripts from East and West. The old exhibition space was in 2003 replaced by a new undrground museum by Swiss architect Mario Botta (fine upper terrace with lake view).