THESE are the drawings of a new exhibition at Winchester Cathedral which will house one of its most revered historical artefacts.

The South Transept will soon be transformed as part of a redevelopment to house the 12th century Winchester Bible, largely funded by the £10.5 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded in July 2013.

The grant will also be used for essential conservation works due to start in the summer if the remaining £3.3 million of the £20 million needed can be raised.

Part of the roof at the southern end will be removed because of extensive water damage. Lead windows, medieval timber and decorated bosses will all be treated.

It is not yet known how far damage has spread though the original paintwork, dating back to the 1500s, said receiver general Annabelle Boyes.

“I'm a great believer in the cathedral's history and doing what we can to keep as much as possible,” she said.

Hampshire Chronicle:

An artist's impression of the new bible reading room which will be shown using touch-screen display boards

Currently on show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the bible is believed to have been commissioned in 1160 by Henri de Blois, the Bishop of Winchester from 1129 until his death in 1171.

It will form the centrepiece for a new exhibition. Kings and Scribes: Birth of a Nation, split across three levels, will pivot around the development of the book and feature touch-screen interactive displays.

It will be housed in the Scriptorium on the ground floor while lifts will take visitors to the Morley Library Archive Collection Gallery on the first floor featuring “a day in the life of the monk”.

Ms Boyes said: “One of the major issues we have had is getting people up and down there because of the steep stairs so we're actually coming up with the idea of putting in a lift and it's going through one of the vaults and one of the Triforium areas.”

The Triforium on the second floor features Discovering the Bones, exhibiting famous mortuary chests, said to include the bones of Anglo-Saxon kings, which experts will be looking into within the next few months.

The second mini exhibition, Decoding the Stones, will expore how and why the cathedral was built.

“It's a real wow moment. You look out and it's just wonderful,” Ms Boyesadded.

“It's about extending our reach to all ages and people from all backgrounds. We did quite a bit of market research for users and some of the comments were really interesting. Some thought it was a hidden space that people didn't go into. We did some work and told people about what our plans were and they were blown away with what was going on.

“The cathedral has this wonderful rhythm of life, which we can show them through this exhibit, and I think it will be nice for people to experience that.”