Miroslav Gospels (Serbian: Мирослављево Јеванђеље or Miroslavljevo Jevanđelje, ) is a 362-page illuminated manuscript Gospel Book on parchment with very rich decorations. It is one of the oldest surviving documents written in Old Church Slavonic, along with the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja. Miroslav Gospels manuscript represents the most precious and significant document in cultural heritage of Serbia.
It was created by order by Miroslav, brother of Stefan Nemanja, Grand Prince of Rascia. The first to discover and study the manuscript were three Russian scholars: Vladimir Stasov, Fyodor Buslayev, and Nikodim Kondakov. A leaf of the book which Archbishop Porfiry Uspensky cut out of the book from the Hilandar Monastery library in 1845 was first shown at the exhibition in Kiev in 1874. The earliest facsimile edition appeared in Vienna in 1897. The book was traditionally preserved in the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos, but, after passing through several hands during World War II, it wound up at the collection of the National Museum of Serbia in Belgrade.
The book was transcribed in Kotor (in today's Montenegro) between 1186 and 1190 from an earlier text. "Miroslav Gospels" were commissioned by Serbian prince Miroslav of Hum, ruler of today's Herzegovina (in Bosnia and Herzegovina). Most pages are by the unknown scribe from Zeta, with the last few pages being by the scribe Gligorije from Raška.
In 2005, the Miroslav Gospel was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in recognition of its historical value.
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Miroslav's Gospel