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Description |
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Belgrade Prophetologion
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Artifact
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The Belgrade Prophetologion (Narodna biblioteka Srbije Rs 652) is the oldest surviving Serbian copy of the prophetologion and dates back to the first quarter of the 13th century. Written on parchment, the manuscript stands out for the beauty of the written letters and the peculiar initials that adorn it. Most of the initials are made of geometric or floral-geometric interweaving, to which imaginative or realistic animals are sometimes added. The initial O on l stands out on fol. 58v, which is in the form of the head of Christ Emmanuel.
The eclectically conceived initials show the influence of Oriental models and Romanesque elements that reached the Serbian lands via an indirect route, mostly through Southern Italy. The manuscript comes from Ras and is kept today in the National Library of Serbia. Actually, it came to the National Library from Skopje and disappeared during the evacuation which occurred at the beginning of the First World War. In 1969 the manuscript was found in Germany and returned to Serbia.
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Codex Marianus (Marijino četvorojevanđelje)
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Artifact
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The Codex Marianus, written in Glagolitic script on parchment, was created at the end of the 10th or the beginning of the 11th century. The manuscript is now kept in the Russian State Library in Moscow (Григ 6, Муз 1689, ф. 87). It is not possible to determine exactly where the manuscript was created (for some it is the Western Serbian regions, presumably Bosnia, others point to the territories near the border with the Republic of North Macedonia), but the latest research points in favour of the Southern Serbian lands, possibly Travunia. It was found on Mount Athos, where it probably arrived in the 14th century, and has been in Russia since 1845. Two folios are kept in the Austrian National Library. The Codex Marianus contains decoration made with pen and ink. It consists of intertwined headpieces and initials. Unusual portraits of the Evangelists, following Byzantine influence from the late 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, deserve special attention.
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Miroslav's Gospel
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Artifact
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Miroslav's Gospel is the oldest Serbian Cyrillic manuscript and one of the most important Serbian medieval manuscripts. It was probably made for the liturgical needs of the Church of St. Peter in Bijelo Polje (in today's Montenegro) at the end of the 12th century (most likely between 1180 and 1187). The manuscript is named after its ktetor, Prince Miroslav of Hum (the brother of Stefan Nemanja), who is also the founder of the aforementioned Church of St. Peter. The content of the codex is based on the model from Saint Sophia in Constantinople, and the decoration, first of all the three hundred initials, exudes various Western influences - from Carolingian to Romanesque. It is believed that the illuminators came from Italy or Southern Dalmatia. Stylistically different is the miniature with the busts of the Evangelists at the beginning of the manuscript (folio 1v), whose iconographic patterns are seen in the manuscripts of the Christian Orient. It is possible that Miroslav's Gospel was created in some coastal scriptorium, as indicated by certain elements in the language and manner of decoration. It is assumed that it reached the Hilandar Monastery during the formation of its library. The Gospel was kept there until 1896, when the Hilandar brotherhood presented it to the Serbian King Aleksandar I Obrenović (reigned 1889-1903). Today it is kept in the National Museum in Belgrade (inv. no. 1536). Sheet 166 is preserved in the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg.
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Vukan's Gospel
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Artifact
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Vukan's Gospel is a full aprakos, written on parchment probably between 1200 and 1202. The manuscript was copied by several scribes, and the major part of the codex was written by the hand of the elder Simeon. The decoration of the codex consists of a large number of initials, several headpieces and two miniatures.
Vukan's Gospel was written in Ras, but it was kept for a long time in the cell of Saint Sava (ca. 1175-1236) in Karyes on the Holy Mount Athos. Bishop Porfirij Uspenskij (1804-1885) brought it to Russia in the 19th century, where it is still today. The Gospel is kept in the National Library of Russia in Saint-Petersburg (Fn I 82), while one leaf is kept in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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