This sumptuous codex, which takes its name from the Benedictine monastery at Admont, in the diocese of Salzburg, was bought by Calouste Gulbenkian in 1936, following the dispersal of the abbey’s library, which had begun the previous year. Some elements attest to this provenance, such as the reference to locally venerated saints and the presence of an image of the archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg, who founded the monastery in 1074.

The decoration of this liturgical book includes medallions with the signs of the zodiac in the section that contains the calendar; illuminated initials, in gold and colours, some showing scenes from the life of the Virgin, Christ or the saints; and four entirely decorated folios. The only full-page miniature depicts the Crucifixion.

Reflecting Byzantine influences, the style of the illuminations in this manuscript has been associated with the painting produced in the regions of Venice and Padua during the second half of the thirteenth century. In particular, they follow the model of the illuminations in the Cathedral of Padua’s Epistolary (1259) created by the Master of Giovanni da Gaibana.