The Cajnice Gospel is a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and the only manuscript of a church character preserved in our country. However, it is currently unknown where this cultural monument is located.
Erma Ramic-Kunic, Ph.D. in the field of Linguistic Bosnian Studies and the author of two books that deal directly with the Cajnice Gospel, warned about the disappearance of this monument of Bosnian literacy and pointed out that the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments made a decision in 2013 which clearly says that the removal of this national monument from BiH is prohibited.
Ramic-Kunic emphasized that temporary removal is allowed only for presentation or conservation, if it is determined that conservation works cannot be carried out in BiH, or if it is estimated that conservation abroad can be carried out better, faster and cheaper.
Approval for the temporary removal of the national monument from BiH is granted exclusively by the Commission, if it is unequivocally established that this will not endanger the national monument in any way.
Ramic-Kunic wonders how it is possible that the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments is silent all the time and does not respond to official letters.
One of the members of the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments, Faruk Kapidzic, wrote on social media and stated, among other things, that the current two members of the Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments of BiH informed all competent authorities and institutions about what they were obliged to inform. He added that sooner or later they will have to answer “whether, and if so, where, when, who and how that person hid the national treasure”.
The Cajnice Gospel is a medieval handwritten book owned by the Serbian Orthodox Church. It was kept in the Church Museum in Cajnice and in 2013 it was declared a national monument of BiH.
It was created at the beginning of the 15th century, at the court of the feudal lord Pavle Radenovic, or it was just owned by him. According to the characteristics of the language, it is certain that it originated on the soil of eastern Bosnia – on the “ijekavian”soil. It was written in shorthand, and the writing was done by five main scribes, who continuously wrote the text. The codex was rewritten with three different templates.
