Miroslav's Gospel exhibited in the National Museum

Miroslav's Gospel, the oldest surviving Serbian Cyrillic manuscript written in the second half of the 12th century for Prince Miroslav of Hum, Stefan Nemanja's older brother, was recently exhibited to the public as part of the International Museum Day and the European Night of Museums in Belgrade, for the first time in two years.

The largest part of the gospel is the work of an unknown copyist (known in science as Varsameleon), while Gligorije (Grigorije) Diak, another scribe, wrote the end of the manuscript, a few short notes and decorated the text with ornaments. The book is written on parchment with the so-called Constitutional Cyrillic, and it is decorated with three hundred stylized miniatures and initials, in color and gold.

As part of our documentary series Rhythm of the City, we had the honor of flipping through the famous 14th-century Dovolja Gospel in the episode about the National Library of Serbia, named after the Dovolja monastery where it was found, and which contains four painted parchment leaves probably older than Miroslav's gospel.