In the Splendor of the Past: An Exhibition of Restored Old Printed Books
(From October 2023 to September 2024)
At the exhibition ‘In the Splendor of the Past’, 11 conserved old printed books written in the Serbian recension of the Church Slavonic language from the stocks of the Library of the Orthodox Eparchy of Buda have been put on display, representing cultural value of special prominence. The exhibition has been realised as part of the joint project ‘The Preservation, Conservation and Presentation of the Collection of Old Printed Books of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Buda’ under the auspices of the Eparchy of Buda and the Library of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad, launched on the initiative of His Excellency Bishop Lukijan in 2018.
To date, the project has involved the preservation and conservation of 11 Serbian printed books from the 15th to the 17th centuries: The first volume of Đurđe Crnojević’s Octoechos, Cetinje (1493/94), Božidar Goraždanin’s Liturgicon, Goražde (1519), Božidar Vuković’s Liturgicon, Venice (1519), the fifth volume of Božidar Vuković’s Octoechos, Venice (1537), Božidar Vuković’s Festive Menaion, Venice (1538), Vićenco Vuković’s Psalter with Services, Venice (1546), Tetraevangelion, Belgrade (1552), the Lenten Triodion of Stefan of Shkodër (1561), Pentecostarion (Venice, Shkodër?) (1563), Jerolim Zagurović’s Psalter with Services, Venice (1569) and Bartolomeo Đinamij’s Psalter with Services, Venice (1638).
Descriptions about the conservation and preservation of the books were prepared at the Department of Old and Rare Books and Legacies with the guidance of archaeographer and adviser Dušica Grbić, while preservation and conservation were performed at the Department for the Protection of Publications under the supervision of Goran Vlahović (to 2020) and, subsequently, of Pavle Živković (from 2020).
The exhibition aims to present the rich spiritual and material culture of Hungary’s Serbs to a general audience. At the same time, cooperation with the Library of Matica Srpska is also emphasised: Its staff have for decades worked on repairing the books of the Library of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Buda, processing its stocks and publishing its catalogue.
