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Secondary sourcePhotograph1965

1225 Magna Carta Reissue on Display, National Archives Rotunda

U.S. National Archives · 1965

A 1965 photograph of the 1225 reissue of Magna Carta displayed in a glass case at the U.S. National Archives.

Shows a later reissue of Magna Carta displayed for the public, illustrating its lasting symbolic importance.

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Black-and-white photograph of the 1225 Magna Carta reissue displayed upright in a glass case in the National Archives Rotunda, surrounded by stanchions and rope, with flags and a marble stepped base behind it.
1225 reissue of Magna Carta on display, National Archives Rotunda. Photograph, 1965.

About this source

What it is

This black-and-white photograph, taken in 1965 by the U.S. National Archives, shows the 1225 reissue of Magna Carta on display upright in a glass case in the National Archives Rotunda in Washington, D.C. The case is surrounded by stanchions and flags on a marble base.

Why it matters

Magna Carta was reissued several times after 1215, and the 1225 version became the one most often cited in later law. This photograph shows how, centuries later, Americans displayed a reissue of the English charter as a symbol connecting their own ideas of liberty and law to its origins.

Look closer

  • Why might the United States want to display an English legal document from the 1200s?
  • What does the careful display—glass case, flags, stanchions—tell you about how the document was valued?
  • What is the difference between the original 1215 Magna Carta and this 1225 reissue?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Magna Carta on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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