According to the British Library, the project encompasses four strands: conservation, digitisation, transcription and scholarly commentary to make the Codex available for a worldwide audience of all ages and levels of interest. It is estimated that the project will take four years to complete and cost £680,000.
Due to the rich historical value of the Bible, the project is expected to bear fruits in a wide range of disciplines, particularly in the study the Christian and Jewish scriptures, the history of the Christian Church, the transmission of texts, Hellenic and Byzantine culture, and codicology - the study of the structure of books.
By comparing the texts in the world’s oldest Bible with the prevalent interpreted Bible in modern language, the team of top experts and scholars involving in the project will be able to trace back and research how and more importantly, why changes were made to the original version of the Bible.
"Obviously, the way the editing works...is exceedingly interesting. What is the process leading to this or that correction? Whether it was merely editorial, or if they were following a theological lead in altering the message," McKendrick said.
Historical and explanatory notations will accompany the digitised text for the reference of both a specialist audience and the general public.
Scot McKendrick, head of medieval and earlier manuscripts at the British Library said the manuscripts are so delicate that only four scholars have been granted access in the past 19 years to sections of the text that are housed in London.
Translations of the Codex will be made available in English, and plans will be developed for translations in German, Spanish and modern Greek. The free to view website containing the digitalised Bible will be upgraded with Turning the Pages technology to allow people to "turn" the digitised pages of the Codex in a realistic way, using interactive animation.
Other diversified projects include a high quality, case-bound, colour-printed facsimile of the entire Codex Sinaiticus to enable scholars and lay enthusiasts full access to a life-like copy of the original. CD-Rom version is also available.
The television production company, CTVC has been entrusted by the British Library to record a documentary for the entire Codex Sinaiticus project.
