Zábrdovice Gospel Book
named after the former Premonstratensian monastery in Zábrdovice (today a part of Brno), from whence it was brought to Olomouc, is the oldest manuscript in the Olomouc Research Library. Moreover, the Gospel book is one of the oldest illuminated manuscripts in the Czech Republic, its association with the Bavarian school of painting enabling it to be dated to sometime in the second half of the 11th century.
Document: Evangeliarium Zabrdovicense: Olomouc, Research Library, M II 74
Dating: Second half of the 11th century
It contains the Latin text of all four gospels, written in Carolingian minuscule. The manuscript’s decoration corresponds to the Romanesque style that predominated at the time it was created and is therefore noticeably simpler than codices from the High Gothic. The basic decoration involves ornamental initials with foliate and zoomorphic motifs and rich gold leaf. The ornamentation is most distinct in nine full-page canon panels that look like Romanesque windows, with symbols of the Evangelists and richly decorated with gold.
Source: Olomouc Research Library
