No, not the Jay-Z Album. The original! I knew I moved here for a reason!!!

Nearly 800 years after the king of England tried to avert a civil war by issuing the Magna Carta, a rarely seen version of the document is coming to the United States, which enshrined many of the charter’s freedoms in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

The trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science is believed to be the first time the delicate, yellowed parchment has left England since it was issued in 1217, two years after the first version of the Magna Carta was distributed. Also on exhibit will be a related legal notice, or writ, issued by the king.

First time out of England in 800 years and it’s coming to H-Town!

The exhibit is scheduled to open in February and last for six months, museum officials told The Associated Press. An official announcement is planned for September.

The document may not have left England since it was issued, Morgan said.

So why, after all these years of guarding the Magna Carta in Hereford, did the trust choose to display it in Houston, of all places?

“Why not Houston?” Morgan laughs, and notes the links between Hereford and Texas. “The Hereford breed of cattle obviously played a very significant part of the old Wild West and the development of western America.”

After the exhibit, the documents will return to Hereford ahead of celebrations marking the Magna Carta’s 800th anniversary.

I was seriously planning a trip to Runnymede in 1215 for the Magna Carta’s 800 Anniversary. And it is coming to a museum within walking distance of my apartment (well you don’t *actually* walk anywhere in Texas, but in theory). I’m stoked!! I will organize a field trip for my constitutional law students!