Giulia Zorzan is a PhD student at the University of Iceland. She will talk about pigments in manuscripts. This lecture will examine the material aspects of medieval book production, focusing on the main colourants used to decorate and enhance the texts in manuscripts. Drawing on recent non-invasive chemical analyses of selected Icelandic manuscripts (some of which are on display in the World in Words Exhibition), the lecture will present new insights into the dyes and pigments available to Icelandic scribes and artists in the Middle Ages. The findings indicate that, while possible local materials such as earths and lichens were utilised, Icelandic craftsmen also relied heavily on imported materials. Significantly, some of these were of considerable value and were available in Europe through extensive trading routes extending to the East, such as the expensive lapis lazuli used to obtain the so-called “ultramarine blue”.