MIROSLAV GOSPEL ON THE UNESCO LIST

BIJELJINA, JULY 28 /SRNA/ - The Miroslav Gospel, the oldest Serbian Cyrillic manuscript, was inscribed on July 29, 2005, into UNESCO's "Memory of the World" heritage list.

According to historical records, in June 1190, the last mention is made of Miroslav, the Prince of Hum, for whom the Miroslav Gospel was written, the oldest known monument written in the Serbian literary language and the oldest illuminated manuscript of medieval Zeta.

The Miroslav Gospel, famous for the beauty of its script and lavish decoration, has 296 initials and miniatures that show a Western, Romanesque influence, brought from Italy to the scriptoria on the Zeta coast and to Miroslav's Zahumlje.

The Miroslav Gospel is a codex, or a handwritten book. It is the most significant Cyrillic monument of Serbian and South Slavic, that is, Serbo-Slavonic literacy from the 12th century, written for the needs of the Church of Saint Peter in Bijelo Polje, the endowment of Prince Miroslav, brother of Stefan Nemanja.

In June 2005, the Miroslav Gospel was inscribed in UNESCO's "Memory of the World" list, for which the National Museum in Belgrade received a UNESCO certificate.

The Miroslav Gospel is kept today in the National Museum in Belgrade, while the 166th folio of this book is located in the National Library of Russia in Saint Petersburg.

Since it was transferred from Hilandar to Belgrade in 1896, the Miroslav Gospel has survived all the turbulent historical events of the 20th century alongside the state of Serbia and the Serbian people