Restoring the Text of Love Letters

The probably smallest manuscript in German medieval literature in the form of a codex (each folio is approximately 7x5 cm) was found inside a wall of a demolished building in Zurich. It contains what is known as Züricher Liebesbriefe. Sadly, the tiny manuscript was damaged by water with its writing partially washed off. In some places, it has become totally unreadable. In the 19th century, attempts to make the ink visible with chemical reagents only made things worse. With modern state-of-the-art technology, in particular multispectral imaging and image processing, it was possible to recover the damaged text and finally read the love letters which probably date to early 14th century.