The Illuminare Image Database (IID), a work in progess, is an open access research database for medieval and early modern illuminated manuscripts. The database consists of more than 19,000 digitised slides with accompanying metadata (in English) from the archival collections of Illuminare. The slide collection was assembled by the centre between 1983 and 1999. Most of the photographs were taken by Paul Stuyven, the former photographer of the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven. The database is developed and supported by Illuminare in collaboration with the Imaging Lab of the University Library. IID is an open access section of dARTS, the website portal of the Faculty of Arts that provides file distribution for account holders.

Note: The database contains a limited amount of metadata for each image. Most of the images, however, have accompanying hard-copy documentation files that are preserved at Illuminare. Therefore, we strongly recommend researchers to combine the use of the database with a visit to the study centre. For more information or to set up an appointment, please contact illuminare@kuleuven.be.

Download conditions

The visual material of the Illuminare Image Database is available for scholarly and non-commercial use only. All images can be downloaded for free in JPEG format, but please be aware that the images in the database may be subject to copyright terms and conditions as issued by their authorised owners. To obtain a higher quality image for publication, one should thus contact the institution that houses the original work of art. If you have any questions regarding these issues, please contact illuminare@kuleuven.be.