The codices of Albania are monuments of Christian culture and civilization and bear the stamp of the biblical-ecumenical space in which Albanians and their ancestors lived.
“Codex Purpureus Beratinus φ” known by the name “Beratinus 1” is the oldest original manuscript preserved in Albania, one of the most important of the early Christian antiquity and one of the earliest manuscripts in the Gospel literature worldwide. “Beratinus 1” is one of the seven purple codices stored in the world and appears in the register of important works of humanity, created in the framework of the program “Memoire du Monde” (Memory of the World) of UNESCO.
Chronologically it is related to a period no later than the middle of the VIth century, before the Gospel thought was harmonized, but it is not excluded that it might be earlier. It was discovered in Berat, a city in Albania that was considered a center for transcription of holy manuscripts. Nowadays is preserved in a high security room in the General Directorate of Archives in Albania.
The writing is made of dissolved silver and the capital letters are made of gold. The manuscript cover is later than the work, it is metallic and decorated with biblical scenes.
In 1970, under an intergovernmental agreement, it was sent for restoration to the Archaeological Institute of Beijing, where an identical, fully exploitable reproduction was carried out. The original itself was restored, ensuring overcoming the critical condition and promising longevity, through the technique of hermetically sealing the sheets one by one between two organic glass in the void.
“Beratinus 1” is valued for the history of writing, for the obvious calligraphic values, as a monument of the world heritage of knowledge, as a scientific object of paleography, bibliology, linguistics and history of beliefs.
