For one week only, September 23rd through 30th, you can see the Magna Carta in New York City. The New-York Historical Society is displaying a rare, early copy of the document, which is one of the most important in the history of the world.

The exhibit Magna Carta 800: Sharing the Legacy of Freedom is a 1217 version from Hereford Cathedral in England. Originally issued in 1215, the Magna Carta celebrates its 800th anniversary this year. It will be accompanied by the King's Writ of 1215, also on loan from Hereford Cathedral, which is the only known surviving copy of instructions issued by John at Runnymede to local sheriffs to prepare for the coming of the charter.

The Magna Carta, or “Great Charter,” was initially developed in 1215 and issued by King John as a peace treaty with rebel barons to address specific grievances of his rule. Although the treaty didn't last, the document established the principle that everyone, even the king, was subject to the law, with all free men granted the right to justice and a fair trial. As such, the document has enormous symbolic power, granting protection against tyrannical rule, and defending civil liberties, a central source of inspiration for future constitutional documents.

“The Magna Carta established fundamental principles that inspired America’s Founding Fathers when they wrote the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, so this seminal document will allow our visitors to trace an important path of history back to its very origins,” said Dr. Louise Mirrer, President and CEO of the New-York Historical Society.

The 1217 version on view, was issued by King John’s immediate successor—the young Henry III—and contains significant additions, which would be retained in subsequent reissues of the charter by English monarchs.

Only four copies of the 1217 version survive. Copies of the Magna Carta have traveled to New York in the past, most notably for the 1939 World’s Fair in Queens, where it was displayed at the British Pavilion. In more recent years, copies of the document have been on view in New York and Washington, D.C., but this is the first time that the Hereford Cathedral copy has traveled to New York.