The International Gutenberg Society printed “the world's largest page of the Bible” on 26 April in the German city of Mainz, where the inventor of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg, was born.

The printing of the first page of the gospel of John measures 35 square metres. It commemorates the 625th anniversary of Gutenberg's birth.

World record

The world record was printed on a 5 x 7.20 metre wooden printing block “made from the largest industrial paper rolls available on the market”, Markus Kohz, the initiator of the campaign, told the Evangelischer Pressedienst (epd, a Protestant press service).

The page of the Bible was assembled “from twelve computer-machined wooden printing blocks”. A car drove over those printing blocks to press the ink onto the paper. Large rolls of paper were then fixed to the structure.

It took almost three hours to complete, from inking the letters to erecting the finished page. The page “has some printing errors because the car missed a small spot while driving over the blocks”, explained Kohz.

A second page was ‘printed’ the next day, with the help of festival visitors, who “enthusiastically ran over the printing block and helped to transfer ink onto the huge sheet”, pointed out the organisers.

Cultural summer

The first page of the gospel of John is now on display in the choir of the Mainz Cathedral, where it will remain for four months until 31 August.

The project was part of the opening ceremony of the Rhineland-Palatinate Cultural Summer.

Between April and October, over 200 cultural individual projects and festivals will take place throughout the German state.