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History–Tours
1450c. 1450–1455 · Mainz

Gutenberg's printing press

A Gutenberg Bible on display, printed in Mainz with movable metal type
Photo: Joshua Keller. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg combined movable metal type, an oil-based ink and a screw press, and around 1455 finished printing his Latin Bible. Presses spread to more than 200 European towns by 1500, making books cheaper and faster to produce. Printing carried the Reformation, the scientific revolution and mass literacy, and changed how ideas travelled.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Gutenberg Museum MOVED, Natural History Museum MainzTwo Gutenberg Bibles in a treasure room, shown while the museum is rebuilt.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Gutenberg Monument, GutenbergplatzThorvaldsen's 1837 statue of Gutenberg near the cathedral.Map ↗

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