Vani Gospels: Ancient manuscript to be exhibited in Tbilisi

Tbilisi locals and the city’s guests will have an opportunity to enjoy an ancient Georgian manuscript that belonged to one of Georgia's most powerful kings.

The Vani Gospels will be exhibited at the National Centre of Manuscripts of Georgia in Tbilisi for several hours from 1pm on Friday, March 27. This will be the first time the manuscript has been exhibited since the book cover’s restoration in 2014.

Viewers will have the chance to see how the manuscript looked before and after it was restored.

The Vani Gospels is an illustrated manuscript of the gospels in the Georgian Nuskhuri script, dating from the end of the 12th century to early 13th century. The manuscript was composed at the request of Queen Tamar of Georgia by the Georgian monk John the Unworthy at the Romani Monastery at Constantinople. 

It was later brought to Georgia and initially kept at the Shorata Monastery (Meskheti, southern Georgia), then in Vani (Imereti, western Georgia; hence its name) and eventually at the Gelati Monastery in Kutaisi, Georgia’s second largest city.

The manuscript consists of 274 folios each of 29 x 21cm in size and is abundantly illustrated.

Tamar the Great (c. 1160 – 18 January 1213) reigned as Queen of Georgia after serving from 1184 to 1213, presiding over the apex of the Georgian Golden Age. A member of the Bagrationi dynasty, her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasised by the title mepe ("king"), commonly afforded to Tamar in the medieval Georgian sources.