Codex Assemanius
A Glagolitic manuscript from the 10th–11th centuries
Please be welcome to the stand of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian language at the Festival of European Languages at the National Library of Latvia in Riga, on 18 September 2026.
We will present Codex Assemanius (also known as the Aseman Codex) - one of the oldest and most beautiful Old Bulgarian manuscripts, written in the oblate Glagolitic script in the 10th–11th centuries. It was discovered in 1736 in Jerusalem and is today kept in the Vatican Library. It is the first Old Bulgarian Glagolitic monument to become known to European science. The manuscript impresses with its rich decoration, Cyrillic inscriptions in the margins and the monthly calendar, which preserves early evidence of the veneration of important saints. The book was compiled as an aprakos, that is, an elective gospel for liturgical use.