An Antifonia is a liturgical book containing the music and lyrics to liturgical songs intended to be sung chorally by the priest and faithful.
      Written on parchment by the monk Hieronymous of the Nola monastery in northern Italy, with musical notation on four lines, as was the practice before five-line musical notation came into general use. The notes in the form of quadrilateral blocks and most of the Latin texts were written in gold paint, which has now turned black.
      The antifonia consists of three whole-page miniatures depicting King David playing the harp, Jesus driving the money-lenders from the temple and Jesus’ ceremonial entry into Jerusalem. These are the work of Giovanni Battista da Rosa, a painter working in the second half of the 15th century in southern Europe (Spain, southern Italy). The antifonia is bound in a cover with stretched leather and metal studs, and a large superexlibris. It weighs around 18 kilograms.
      It comes from the collection of Bruno Konczakowski, who received it from Karl Hiersemann, owner of a famous bookstore in Leipzig, before the First World War.