The Russian National Library is currently implementing a program for digitizing ancient manuscripts. The program makes it possible for readers from all over the world to get access to the publications from the golden fund of the world cultural and historical heritage.
Among the presented rarities – “Laurentian Codex“, “Ostromir Gospel”, “Codex Zographensis”.
The “Laurentian Codex” is the oldest dated Russian chronicle that has survived till our days. It was created in 1377 in North-Eastern Rus as a call to unite in fight against the Mongol invaders right before the battle of Kulikovo. It became an ideological symbol of the revival of the Russian state with its center in Moscow and is one of the landmarks of medieval Russian history.
The “Ostromir Gospel”, created in the XI century, is the oldest dated East Slavic manuscript, which has been preserved intact, whilst its “contemporaries” have come down to our days in fragments.
The “Codex Zographensis” is a unique example of completely preserved Glagolitic book written in the ancient Slavic alphabet which was replaced by Cyrillic alphabet in the XI–XII centuries. The “Codex Zographensis” allows us to trace the evolution of Glagolitic writing and the process of transition from Glagolitic to Cyrillic.
Access to the Russian National Library is available on the website expositions.nlr.ru, and on the website of the Russian Historical Society historyrussia.org.
Based on the websites of the Russian National Library and the Russian Historical Society.