Променената функция на инициала в румънски литургични ръкописи от XVII-XVIII век
The modified function of the initial letter in Romanian liturgical manuscripts of the 17th and 18th centuries

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to present an important change in manuscript decoration that took part during the 17th and 18th centuries within the territories of the Romanian principalities Wallachia and Moldavia. It discusses the initial decoration of a group of four luxury liturgical manuscripts three of which were written and decorated in Wallachia and one in Moldavia. All of them are showing the features of the modified function of the initial letters under the influence of the liturgical texts. There are different reasons for this modification. Some of them have their basis in politics while others have ecclesiastical motivation. But what is important here is the result – the appearance of the visual discourse of the initial letter that decodes and provides an additional source for understanding the sophisticated and abstract meaning of the liturgical texts. The initial letters from the four Romanian liturgical manuscripts (AR ms. rom. 1790, AR ms. slav. 170, AR ms. rom. 1384 held in the Library of Romanian Academy of Science in Bucharest and AR ms. rom.1216 kept in the Library of Romanian Academy of Science in Cluj-Napoca) are grouped into four basic groups based on their visual function and interaction with the text. Last but not least the article presents an attempt to decode the symbolical meaning and allusions that these initial letters probably implied back in time they were created as a pictorial comment to the texts of liturgy books.

• Details
• Contents