LONDON, United Kingdom: A rare exhibition entitled "Sacred: Discover What We Share" that brings together of some of the world's earliest surviving, most important and beautiful religious texts from the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths for the first time kicked off on Thursday.

It is being held under the patronage of the Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

Rare and beautiful examples from the Library's collections are being presented alongside treasures on loan from other institutions and include many illustrated books and manuscripts never, or seldom, seen on public display as well as some shown for the first time. The exhibition explores commonalties and differences in presenting some 230 of the world's greatest Jewish, Christian & Muslim holy books.

The collection includes a copy of an eighth century Quran, a copy of the New Testament dating back to AD 350 and one of the oldest surviving manuscripts of the Torah.

The exhibition offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the general public to see so many of the Library’s sacred texts showcased at the same time, with around 230 manuscripts, texts and other objects displayed in a unique and compelling modern context.

These include the cover of the Holy Kaaba in Makkah. This beautiful piece ornamented with Qur'anic inscriptions was made for the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Majid I in 1858. There is also a carpet page from a Qur’an that dates back to the 14th century. The design of this magnificent carpet page from Morocco and the style of its illumination are typical of decorative frontispieces produced in North Africa and Andalusian Spain. Gold, red, blue and green are the colors most often used in the decoration of manuscripts from this region. The most prominent feature of this carpet page is the geometric frame formed by the interlocking squares and octagons highlighted in white ink and filled in with arabesques.