UKRAS STAROJUŽNOSLAVENSKIH RUKOPISA I IDEJA “AUREA MEDIOCRITIAS” : RIJEČ O UMJETNIČKOJ SIMBIOZI ISTOKA, ZAPADA I ORIJENTA
THE DECORATION OF OLD SOUTH SLAVONIC MANUSCRIPTS AND THE IDEA OF “AUREA MEDIOCRITIAS” : ON THE ARTISTIC SYMBIOSIS OF EAST, WEST AND THE ORIENT

Summary/Abstract: The subject of this research is the heterogenic artistic language that emerged on the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, and Bulgaria during the early and high Middle Ages. This language consisted of elements belonging to various cultural traditions, of which the following should be considered the most significant: Catholic-Orthodox iconography and its characteristic forms (especially in its figural realizations); and the predilection for ornamental and floral decoration of oriental origins (present in some examples of the stylization of writing). One example of medieval art, and especially of miniature painting, is the proven existence of the “golden mean”, which, in this case, embraced in a coherent form the traditions of states and nations that were often engaged in political conflict. Such language manifested itself particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is best seen in Evanđelje kneza Miroslava, which displays, besides many literary (Orthodox-canonical and apocryphal) inspirations, a mixture of those of an artistic nature (early Romanesque, as well as some elements of Eastern and Byzantine origin). This feature makes Bosnia a signifiant junction of cultural communication, and a crucial area on the map of European universalism.

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