FOR the first time in 800 years the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta came together to share a room as part of the document’s anniversary celebration.

It is one of the very few moments in history that the city’s Magna Carta has left the cathedral having resided in Salisbury since the 13th century.

The Dean of Salisbury, the Very Reverend June Osborne, said: “It is an unrepeatable day. These documents have never been together before since 1215.

“The Salisbury Magna Carta is the one that has never travelled - except when we put it in a quarry in Wiltshire during the second world war for safe keeping.

“So it was a huge decision for us to let it travel, even to London, but I am thrilled that we made that decision. It is such an important anniversary.”

The special event took place at the British Library yesterday and today the manuscripts will be viewed by 1,215 people who won the chance to attend the event after entering a public ballot last year. The winners were randomly selected from 43,715 applicants from over 20 countries.

The original Magna Carta manuscripts were dispatched over a period of a few weeks in late June and early July 1215.

The surviving four will be together at the British Library until tomorrow when a ceremony is held at the House of Lords.

Salisbury’s Magna Carta will then return to the city to open the cathedral’s new permanent exhibition Magna Carta: Spirit of Justice, Power of Words from March 6.

The new Magna Carta exhibition will present the cathedral’s copy of the Magna Carta document in its medieval context, and explore its legacy, both historic and contemporary.

Whilst the documents are together a group of academics will look for subtle differences between the manuscripts.

The document, which is sometimes known as the Charter of Runnymede, was agreed by King John to appease his rebellious barons and is widely regarded as the foundation of English law.

“When people look at these documents they will be looking at the whole history of liberty,” Rev Osborne added. “They will be very aware that there is no value that is more important to us than freedom.

“So what this represents is not just a piece of narrative history it is actually about our identity, about who we are and I suspect therefore that anyone who see’s the documents together will be inspired.”