Important pieces of 14 centuries of history have been discovered through codices, Qurans and old religious and literary manuscripts in the house of the former dictator, Enver Hoxha.
A wealth inherited from generation to generation in our country, which includes cultural heritage from all religious beliefs, such as the Purple Codex of Berat or the oldest Koran that belongs to the century. XV, which are also part of the world cultural heritage, are preserved in the Albanian Central Archive, oranews informs. The Purple Codex of Berat, Beratinus I is today the oldest digitized copy available online in the UNESCO World Digital Library.
The director of the Albanian Central Archive, Ardit Bido, tells how the Berat Codexes, which are the oldest variants of the Bible in the world's purple form, were found in the ruins after a very long odyssey. After being excavated from the ruins, it took a lot of work to restore them, a process that was carried out in China.
Director of the Central Archive, Ardit Bido: "These are the models of how the Berat Codices were found in 1968, when they were removed from the pit where they were placed in order to hide from the danger of the beginning of the Italian and German break, then the communist danger, as well as the lids which are later from 1805. Often throughout history the lids were changed, a form of restoration was done with the tools of the time and consequently the lids are much newer. The codices of Berat are unique in the world, the Purple Codex, the first of Berat, is from the 1356th century, it is one of the five codicils of the same century made during the period of Emperor Justinian that continue to exist around the world, one of these is in Albania, the other four are in Europe. While the second Codex is from the XNUMXth century, also found in Berat. We are sure that it has been in Berat since the XNUMXth century, from XNUMX onwards, before that their history is not known and they are not simply part of the world's cultural heritage, but they are the oldest variants of the Bible in the purple form that was a privilege of the emperor in the world and therefore this makes them special, unique and an invaluable national asset".
The legend of the Codices of Berat was well known. Although the citizens have not been able to see them up close before, they have known their history, while their curiosity has been quenched in the exhibition "Through unquenchable wisdom" which is still open in Villa 31.
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It was 1967, when the war against the Church destroyed the wealth of their publications. Today, the Archive contains part of the property that was saved during the communist regime. The subject matter of the texts is dominated by the sacred writings and theology, since most of the books that have reached our days come from the altars, tables or shelves of the temples where God was worshipped.
Ardit Bido: "The Codex of Vlora is from the 100th century. we must understand that Albania was much richer than it is today. I am taking the example of Gjirokastra, which is more evident than that of Vlora. In the 1967th century, XNUMX codices were counted in Gjirokastra. Today, we have only one survivor and this shows that in all the Albanian lands extremely old manuscripts have been preserved which show an invaluable cultural wealth that you don't find so much in some other countries. These codices were continuously collected in the Central State Archive during the communist regime, which were used en masse in various churches of the country. During the communist regime, it was first attempted through the summons, then from the summons it went to the dayak of collecting these artifacts and unfortunately then there is also the black year, XNUMX, where the mania to destroy the country's churches and mosques did not only destroy the churches and mosques, but also unfortunately also videos that show how many manuscripts are thrown into the fire pit and perish forever. This is a part of the wealth that survived beyond this black year of our cultural tradition".
Professor Jorgji Doksani says that the inhabitants of Berat Castle have also given a great help to preserve the Codexes.
Professor Jorgji Doksani: "The codices were perfectly hidden in Berat Castle by those who were entrusted with such a great thing. It is not related to any of the regimes, but this preservation of value is related to the dignity of the inhabitants of the Castle"
Other codices are that of Shkodra, which is the only manuscript that exists today in the Archive in Latin. While the one in Korça is made special by the writing of the four Gospels in the form of the Cross.
Ardit Bido: "The Codex of Shkodra is the only manuscript in Latin that exists today in the Central State Archive, which has survived the times. It is from the century. XIV, in Latin, is the lives of the saints by an anonymous copyist. Codex of Korça of the century. X is unique in its kind, it has four Gospels, all four Gospels are written in the form of a Cross, a unique copy. In 2010, several miniature copies of it were made, so that it can be enjoyed as an asset of our cultural heritage in the future".
But, it is not only the Codexes, Albania also preserves the oldest Koran in the Balkans, written in soot, as well as old manuscripts of the Islamic religion, made with ornaments and precious details. The books presented are in Persian, Greek, Latin, Albanian, Arabic, Ottoman, written by hand or printed in a printing press.
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Mezani, Ottomanologist: "This is the oldest Koran we have in the Archive, it is the oldest Koran in the Balkans as well." The special feature of this Koran compared to others is that it does not have the ornaments of the century. XIX that are with gold. It is simpler, but the calligraphy used is thuluth. This type of calligraphy was written in the XIV-XV centuries. The paper used is organic, which was painted with egg white, while the ink used was made from soot."
Before the 1921th century Koran that is kept today in the Archive, a part of the Koran that was translated from Arabic into Albanian by Hafiz Ali Korça, entered Albania for the first time in XNUMX. Muamer Vuci, president of the Albania-Countries Friendship Association Arabic, says that this part, which is not found in Albania, was published in a foreign encyclopedia.
Muamer Vuci: "In a powerful encyclopedia that was published in Beirut, Lebanon in 2000, all the countries of the world where the Qur'an entered and was distributed in the language of that country are included. Albania was in those countries since 1921, in the city of Shkodër the Koran came and spread. Shkodra is the first symbol of a part of the Koran in the Albanian language. Here a great value is given to the printing house 'Depargjia' in Shkodër, which was among the best profiled for Arabic and Turkish languages. I undertake to bring this book with 700-800 pages here and to copy that part where great value is placed on how Albanian scholars, in particular Hafiz Ali Korça, that he is the translator"
In the exhibition "Through an undying wisdom". Although fewer in number, there are also old texts that contain literature, such as the cycle of poems "Lejla and Mejhnuni", which talks about an older love story than that of Romeo and Juliet.
Rezart Mezani: "This is a work by Fuzuli, a story in the form of poetry. It's pre-Shakespeare or earlier and we have a love story between two young people who are meant to be but never manage to come together. The philosophy of this book is to move from a human love to a divine love. Lejla will say night, while Majnun will say crazy. In fact, his name is Kays, but because he lost Leyla, he becomes crazy and figuratively they named him Majnun"
Codices and old religious manuscripts, many citizens who visited the exhibition were curious to see the house of the dictator Enver Hoxha.
Citizens: "We didn't know what's in here, we entered out of curiosity. This was also closed at that time, we couldn't even see it from the outside, let alone go inside."
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Citizens: "Yes, we were curious to see it, that's why we entered, we didn't know. With the idea that it would be the exhibition of Enver, the dictator, that's why we entered. We really liked it"
The exhibition "Through an undying wisdom" will remain open until May 20. Although the handwritten and printed books presented in this exhibition do not cover all the themes or historical periods of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, they are the remaining elements of a vast cultural mosaic, from which we see fragments of different times and places, enough to show the public the greatness of the past.
