Memory of the World: The treasures that record our history from 1700 BC to the present day. UNESCO
works make up the largest part of the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection. Among these, particular treasures are the Icelandic sagas which relate the voyages of the Vikings – usually from Norway – who sailed west to invade, explore and settle in Britain and Ireland, the Faroes and Iceland, and from there, Greenland and North America around AD 1000; and east and south to Russia and as far as the Mediterranean and Byzantium.
Scandinavia, and Iceland in particular, were among the last major areas of Europe to convert to Christianity and the establishment of the new religion can be charted from its official beginnings around AD 1000. The manuscripts reveal a society in transition, from heathendom to Christianity, from an oral culture to literacy, and from localized oligarchy to a more centralized monarchy.
Other manuscripts originated in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Religious and legal texts are among the most numerous, with translations of chivalric literature from the original French, alongside hagiographies, devotional books and other religious texts. In particular, most of the Danish manuscripts are legal codices; one of these, Skånske lov or the Law of Skaane, is written in runic script. There are also manuscripts from the continent, in Latin and other languages, on diverse subjects from a copy of a 6th-century commentary on the Apocalypse to a 15th-century treatise on warfare and the use of cannons.
The works of the collection are central to the study and understanding of Scandinavian language and culture. They are also invaluable as a source of information on the history of mainland Scandinavia and the North American colonies during the Viking expansion. This was a period which shaped both how the region perceives itself and how it is regarded by the rest of the world. They were a source of national inspiration in art and politics, fuelling the movements that led to independence for Norway and Iceland.
The collection was gathered over much of his life by Árni Magnússon (1663–1730), an Icelander and professor of antiquities at the University of Copenhagen (his name in its Latinized form, Arnas Magnæus, gives the collection its name).
Although Magnússon bequeathed the collection to his university, Icelandic independence from Denmark in 1944 lent weight to an already-existing campaign to have the Icelandic sections of the collection returned to Reykjavik.
As a result, the collection is now divided between the two countries under an arrangement that was itself ground-breaking in setting a precedent for the amicable return of cultural treasures. In a transfer that took 26 years and was completed in 1997, Iceland received 1666 items from the collection together with the Icelandic charters and apographa, or transcripts. Both countries remain joint custodians, working together to secure continued access to the manuscripts and their preservation.
Miroslav Gospel – manuscript from 1180
Inscribed 2005
What is it
An illuminated manuscript from around AD 1180 and the product of a fusion of styles from West and East.
Why was it inscribed
The Miroslav Gospel is a unique fusion of styles and iconography from Italy and Byzantium. Its text combines the Serbian script with the style of miniature illustrations, ornamentation and illumination from the West.
Where is it
National Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
The Miroslav Gospel was made around 1180, according to an inscription in the book itself, for Prince Miroslav of Hum (an area equating roughly to present-day Herzegovina), and is assumed to have been used in the church of St Peter in Bijelo Polje. It is the oldest surviving Serbian illuminated manuscript.
The manuscript has 181 sheets of parchment and is an evangelistary – that is, a book containing passages from the Gospels by the four evangelists, and from which priests read in church services. The text is arranged according to the reading plan for the liturgical or church year and is possibly modelled on the type of evangelistary that was used in Hagia Sophia, seat of the patriarch of Constantinople and the central church of the Orthodox Catholic Church. It is illustrated with 296 coloured miniatures decorated with gold; a monk named Gligorije is mentioned in the book as the illuminator of the miniatures.
The Gospel is written in the old Slavic language and proved highly influential in the development of the Cyrillic alphabet whose use spread across the Central and Eastern Balkans in the medieval period.
Serbia’s geographic position meant the country was well placed to absorb cultural influences from both East and West, and this too is evident in the Gospel, which used a radical new blend of artistic and decorative styles from Byzantium and Italy. Elaborate initial letters were the main decorative devices in Eastern manuscripts, and miniature illustrations covering the page were rare. However, this style of miniature illustration painting was the preferred method of decoration in the scriptoria of Central Italy. The Miroslav Gospel used both, and this new fusion influenced the development of manuscript illumination in the region into the 15th century.
Art historians have traced mutual Eastern and Western influences in the ornamentation, with Byzantine and Roman influences alongside techniques from Syrian, Bithynian, Coptic and other Western styles.
By the mid-19th century the Gospel was in the library of Hilandar, the Serbian monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. Unusually, a page of the book (folio 166) was taken by a visiting Russian churchman: he took it to St. Petersburg where it is still kept in the National Library of Russia. The rest of the Gospel was given to the Serbian king some years later and its fate was at times precarious during the regional upheavals of the 20th century. After the Second World War it was transferred into the keeping of the Arts Museum, now the National Museum in Belgrade.
Inscribed 2007
What is it
The Tabula Peutingeriana is a unique preserved map of the road system for the cursus publicus, the Roman Empire’s public transportation system. It consists of eleven segments with the map, written on parchment.
Why was it inscribed
The Tabula Peutingeriana offers insights into the history of administration and economy in the Roman Empire and unique information on the topography and geography of all the provinces and territories under Roman rule.
Where is it
Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria
The cursus publicus was the public transportation system that stretched across the Roman Empire. It carried government messages and certain goods and allowed travel by government officials. Stations along the way provided lodging, food, vehicles and animals.
The Tabula Peutingeriana maps the road system that the cursus publicus used. It covers the complete area of the provinces under Roman rule and the territories conquered by Alexander the Great in the East.
The information on the map is not an accurate geographical description of where the roads lie on the landscape. Instead, rather like modern urban underground maps, the Tabula was a stylized rendering of the structure and network of the cursus publicus. This explains why the sea is missing from the map and also its west-east orientation. Cities are denoted by symbols according to their importance.
As the only map of the cursus publicus, the Tabula Peutingeriana is of great importance for all studies concerning the administration and economy of the Roman Empire. It also serves as a guide for historians and archaeologists.