The codices on display belong to the southern region of Berat, and Korca (Voskopoja) bearing testimony to the Christian religion in Albania
TIRANA, Nov. 26 – Fifteen original Byzantine and Post-Byzantine codices, part of the collection of the General Directorate of Archives, are being displayed at the National Museum of History in Tirana in a special manuscripts exhibition as part of events commemorating Albania’s 100 centenary of independence. The codices on display belong to the southern region of Berat, and Korca (Voskopoja) bearing testimony to the Christian religion in Albania. Speaking at the exhibition’s opening ceremony last week, Culture Minister Aldo Bumci said we are unveiling the best values in this centennial starting with the arrival of the Missal, Albania’s first book, the folk costumes and Skanderbeg’s armament exhibitions.”
Nevila Nika, the director of the State Archives, described codices as wonderful works which have passed from generation to generation, testifying the deep roots of religious faith in Albania. The exhibition remained open to the public from November 24 to 29.
The goal of this exhibition is to inform scholars and the general public with a part of the documentary heritage housed in Central State Archive, more concretely, with the tradition and history of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts. Among the codices, covering a historical period starting from the 6th to the 18th century, will also be displayed the two well known codices, Purpureus Beratinus 1 and Purpureus Beratinus 2, part of UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
Last October, the 500-year-old journey of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons was traced in an exhibition at the National Arts Gallery in Tirana. The exhibition featured more than 80 selected icons part of the iconography collections in the museums of Korca, Berat and the National Art Gallery in Tirana.
The icons data back to as early as the 14 century with St. Michael of Opar to conclude with icons of the Zengo family in Korca in the 1960s, when the ban of religion in Albania also put an end to this tradition.
