Читать книгу Memory of the World: The treasures that record our history from 1700 BC to the present day - UNESCO - Страница 59

Khitrovo Gospel

Inscribed 1997

What is it

A Russian illuminated Gospel manuscript of the four Gospels of the New Testament, dating from the late Middle Ages.

Why was it inscribed

The Khitrovo Gospel is an important and unique part of religious and cultural expression of the Russian and Slavonic peoples. The Gospel illustrates the development of Russian book-writing schools and literature and the dissemination of the church Slavonic language.

Where is it

Russian State Library, Moscow, Russia

Written on parchment, the Khitrovo Gospel manuscript is 300 pages long. In total, it contains eight full-page miniatures – one of each of the four Evangelists and one each of their symbols (angel, lion, bull and eagle). It was the first time the symbols were depicted on their own in a Russian book, and the Gospel is widely known for these eight paintings, by Andrei Rublyov and his students.

Rublyov was thought to have been trained by the Greek painter Theophanes, a master in the Byzantine style, and was considered the foremost Russian painter of religious icons of his day. Rublyov was a monk in the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra (Holy Trinity Monastery) near Moscow, where the Gospel was believed to have been created. In addition to his work with miniatures, he was also famed for his icons and fresco work. Many of the other pages of the Gospel are also lavishly decorated, and the initial letters are painted in colour and gold.

The Khitrovo Gospel takes its name from Bogdan Matveevich Khitrovo, a Russian aristocrat who obtained the manuscript from Tsar Feodor III in 1677; Khitrovo later bequeathed the manuscript again to the Troitse-Sergieva Lavra. The manuscript remained there until 1920 when the monastery was closed by the new Communist government in the wake of the Russian Revolution. The Gospel has been part of the Russian State Library since then.