Miroslav's Gospel
Description
Miroslav’s Gospel is a liturgical work that is considered the most important and the most beautiful of Serbian manuscript books. It was created around 1180 by two student monks for Duke Miroslav, the brother of Stefan Nemanja, grand prince of the medieval Serbian state of Rascia. Written on parchment in Cyrillic uncial (the Cyrillic script that developed from Greek in the 9th century), it is a monument to early Serbian literacy. The work is decorated with approximately 300 stylized miniatures of outstanding beauty, and is representative of a group of illuminated manuscripts of a particular style and iconography that resulted from the fusion of western (Italian) and eastern (Byzantine) elements. For centuries, Miroslav's Gospel was kept in the Hilandar monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church on Mount Athos, Greece. It now is housed at the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade. The National Library of Serbia is charged with its preservation. In 2005, Miroslav’s Gospel was inscribed on the UNESCO “Memory of the World” register.

http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2363/view/1/1/