The world’s blueprint for freedom and democracy was opened very carefully Tuesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. The Magna Carta (great charter), written in 1215, was lifted by gloved hands and placed into a temperature-controlled display case.

The document is the star of the library exhibit, “Magna Carta: The Essence of Democracy,” which opens to the public Jan. 23 and runs through June 20 reports the Ventura County Star.

Translated from Latin, “The Great Charter” is one of the most famous documents in existence. The U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence are modeled after the Magna Carta, which was the first to assert that no man, not even the king, is above the law.

The one-page manuscript traveled first-class inside an airtight metal briefcase on British Airways along with its handler, Chris Woods. Woods is a conservator with London’s Lincoln Cathedral Archives, the official home of the 793-year-old document.

Woods arrived at Los Angeles International Airport Monday, where a security guard escorted him through the terminal and the case remained closed through customs. Woods is the primary caretaker of the Magna Carta.

“I was whisked under armed guard to the library,” Woods said.

On Tuesday, he removed the soft encasing around the document, snapped on purple rubber gloves and took a few, smooth steps cradling the document. He placed it in the temperature-controlled case.

Rob Zucca is an exhibit specialist who watched its few-second transport carefully and helped seal the display case. He has been anticipating its arrival for about a year.

Read more here: Reagan Library welcomes the Magna Carta