President Čubrilović received a digital version of the 166th edition of the Miroslav's Gospel and an authentic copy of the Charter of Kulin Ban in St. Petersburg

Date: 
07.09.2017 - 11:45

Delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska headed by the President Nedeljko Čubrilović, during their stay in St. Petersburg, visited the Russian National Library and the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences and discussed the possibilities of enhancing cooperation in the fields of science and culture between the Republic of Srpska and St. Petersburg.

"It is very valuable that in the Russian National Library we had the exclusive opportunity to see the original of the 166th edition of the Miroslav's Gospel, and the original Charter of Kulin Ban, which is kept in St. Petersburg, in the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, whose two younger transcripts are in Dubrovnik "Said the president of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, after discussing with the managers of these Russian national institutions.

During today's visit, the management of the Russian National Library donated a digital edition of the original 166th edition of the Miroslav's Gospel to the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, and representatives of the Russian Academy of Sciences donated an authentic copy of the Charter of Kulin Ban.

"For the Republic of Srpska and the Serbian people it is very important that today we received the digital edition of the original 166th page of Miroslav's gospel from the 12th century, as the most important and the most beautiful monument of the Serbian language, and that we received an authentic copy of the Charter of Kulin Ban is of utmost importance in the linguistic, legal and historical sense for the entire Serbian nation, and it is also significant for other nations living in Bosnia and Herzegovina," said President Čubrilović.

He added that, according to experts, it is clear that the Charter of Kulin Ban was written in Cyrillic by the Serbian national language, and that it was created on August 29, 1189.

"It is a multifaceted fact that a document which is kept talks about the relations between the Republic of Dubrovnik and medieval Bosnia. In addition to diplomatic and political significance, the Charter of Kulin Ban is important for studying the history of Serbian language and culture” said Čubrilović.

On the occasion of September 8th, International Literacy Day, it is of particular importance that we received the digital edition of the original of the 166th List of the Miroslav Gospel and an authentic copy of the Charter of Kulin Ban," said President Čubrilović, adding that copies of these historic monuments will be placed in the exhibition hall of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska.

"According to the historians and linguists, the data read on the basis of Miroslav's gospel and the Charter of Kulin Ban speak about the thousands of years of continuity in the development of the Serbian language and script, proving the existence of good neighborly relations and unambiguously confirming belonging to the Christian civilization of the people of the then Bosnia," said Čubrilović.

President Čubrilović said that the fact that the Bosnian Ban Kulin was in friendly relations with the Serbian dynasty Nemanjići, was very important, because his sister was married to Nemanja's brother Miroslav, the ruler of Zahumlje, on whose order Miroslav's Gospel was written.

"Based on the use of letters and language, as well as its features, the Charter of Kulin Ban tells us about his unequivocal Christian affiliation, of then Bosnia and Dubrovnik," said Čubrilović, adding that this is also very important for understanding today's relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina .

A copy of the Charter of Kulin Ban was presented to President Čubrilović by the director of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Irina Mihajlovna Beljajeva.