MIROSLAV'S GOSPEL ON UNESCO'S LIST

BIJELJINA, JULY 28 /SRNA/ - The Miroslav Gospel, the oldest Serbian Cyrillic manuscript, was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register on July 29, 2005.

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

Renowned for the beauty of its script and rich decoration, the manuscript contains 296 initials and miniatures that reflect Western, Romanesque influence, brought from Italy to the scriptoria along the Zeta coast and into Miroslav’s Zahumlje.

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

In June 2005, the Miroslav Gospel was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, for which the National Museum in Belgrade received an official certificate from UNESCO.

Today, the Miroslav Gospel is kept in the National Museum in Belgrade, and page 166 of the manuscript is held in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg.

Since its transfer from Hilandar Monastery to Belgrade in 1896, the Miroslav Gospel has endured the turbulent historical events of the 20th century alongside the state of Serbia and the Serbian people.