За Супрасълския кодекс – 200 години след неговото откриване
About the Codex Suprasliensis – 200 Years Since Its Scientific Discovery

Summary/Abstract: The Codex Suprasliensis is a valuable 10th-century manuscript associated with the Preslav Literary School and the Cyrillic script. It was discovered in 1823 in the library of the Supraśl Monastery in Poland by Protoiereus Mihail Bobrowski and remains the largest surviving Old Bulgarian Cyrillic manuscript. Due to its immense cultural and historical significance, its rich vocabulary, and paleographic features, the codex was included in the Memory of the World Registry of UNESCO in 2007, following a joint proposal by Poland, Slovenia, and Russia – countries where fragments of the manuscript are now preserved. In 2023, the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the codex was celebrated. At the initiative of Bulgarian Ambassador to Poland Margarita Ganeva and Professor Alexander Naumov, the leading Polish expert in palaeoslavistics, the year was proclaimed the Year of the Codex Suprasliensis. The idea led to a large-scale international campaign for the study and promotion of the manuscript, involving universities, scientific institutions, cultural organizations from Bulgaria and Poland, and various governmental bodies.The anniversary celebrations included numerous events, the most significant being a solemn session at the National Library in Warsaw and an international scientific conference in Białystok and Supraśl monastery. The ceremonial session, held on October 22, 2023, featured an exhibition on the codex’s history, including its disappearance during World War II and its restitution to Poland in 1967. During the event, the Polish postal administration presented a commemorative postcard, while Bulgaria also prepared a similar edition in cooperation with the Bulgarian Cultural Institute in Warsaw.The international scientific conference commenced at Branicki Palace in Białystok and continued at the Annunciation Monastery in Supraśl. As part of the event, a memorial column and a commemorative plaque were unveiled to mark the anniversary. Scholars from Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, and Lithuania presented research on the history, linguistic features, and artistic design of the manuscript. One of the most significant achievements of the conference was the publication of an extensive bibliography covering all studies on the codex from 1825 to 2023, as well as the presentation of the first translation of the codex into Polish. The celebrations in Poland took place under the patronage of President Andrzej Duda and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria. The events emphasized the importance of the Codex Suprasliensis as part of Bulgaria’s cultural heritage and a key element of the Slavic literary tradition, deserving further research and digital preservation.Part two of volume 35 of Cyrillo-Methodian Studies, to which this information serves as an introduction, is also one of the results of the Jubilee Year of the Supraśl Codex. The contributions of the scientific conference held in September 2023 will enrich the history of its research.

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