The History of Hilandar

Hilandar was built in 1198 by St. Simeon, Stefan Nemanja, a former ruler of Serbia,

and his two sons, St. Sava, and Stefan the First-Crowned.

Although on Greek territory,

Hilandar has played a decisive role in shaping the religious and national awareness of Serbs,

and has generally been important to many other cultures and peoples.

The monasteries together, and each separately,

have represented and still represent important monastic,

religious and cultural centers.

Precious manuscripts were kept and written in various languages,

primarily Greek.

Notwithstanding the fact that over time,

a large number of manuscripts have been destroyed or taken away,

it is believed that there are still some 17,000 codices there,

as well as numerous fragments, edicts, charters,

letters and various other documents.

Many objects of art needed for liturgical and religious practice

were also produced there. Each monastery still owns numerous

carved crosses,

icons,

...

frescoes,

embroidered curtains, etc.

Many of these treasures were often gifts

from various countries.

Such is the case with this curtain, which was sent to Hilandar by Anastasia, the wife of Ivan the Terrible.

She herself embroidered the curtain.

Also treasured in Hilandar Monastery is the famous Diptych of Euphemia (from the end of the 14th century).

On the back of this two-paneled icon is engraved the Prayer of Euphemia, which mentions the death of her only son, Uglješa. This text is considered to be the first poem in Serbian literature authored by a woman.

The monasteries of the Holy Mount house a large number of rare and precious

printed books, as well as manuscripts, in their libraries.

 It was concern for these precious materials

that led the monks of Hilandar to contact the Very Rev. Dr. Mateja Matejic, who was known to them.

Sharing this concern, in 1969 the Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University, and especially

 its Chair, Leon Twarog, considered it desirable and necessary to obtain permission to microfilm all these manuscripts treasured in Hilandar.

It was also hoped in this way to make this material accessible

to scholars, students, and all individuals interested in it.

At the same time, in case of some disaster on the Holy Mount, this invaluable material would be preserved on film even if the originals were damaged or destroyed.

Such, in fact, was almost the case in March 2004, when a devastating fire destroyed more than one half of Hilandar Monastery.

It was precisely for such reasons that what became known as the Hilandar Research Project was born.

With the permission of the Greek civil authorities, as well as of the monastic government and the brotherhood of Hilandar Monastery, in the period of 1970-1975,

all Slavic Codices, as well as numerous edits, icons, frescoes was born.

carved crosses, and many other objects of religious art – at Hilandar Monastery – were photographed.

This task was accomplished by

Professor Mateja Matejic, the first Director of the Hilandar Research Project and subsequently, Professor Emeritus of Slavic and a Senior Research Associate,

Professor Walt Craig, Professor Emeritus of Photography, and Dr. Predrag Matejic, the first Curator of the Hilandar Research Library.

Microfilms of the Slavic manuscripts in the Hilandar Monastery are available in the Hilandar Research Library, a special collection of The Ohio State University Libraries.

The name “Hilandar” is retained as part of this library’s name to honor the initiative and concern of the monks of Hilandar Monastery

for the preservation of that which is in their keeping.

This collection also contains microfilms of numerous Greek codices from Hilandar Monastery, as well as microforms of Slavic and other manuscripts from more than

100 collections housed in over 20 countries. Among these, the most frequently consulted by scholars

are those that represent approximately 80 percent of the extant Slavic material

found in monasteries on the Holy Mount.

The Serb National Federation and many individuals of Serbian descent in the United States and Canada were especially generous in helping to finance the original Hilandar Research Project,

and what is now known as the Hilandar Research Library and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies.

Photography of the Hilandar Monastery manuscripts was originally financed by The Ohio State University, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council for Learned Societies.

Even today the monks of the Holy Mount continue the Orthodox monastic tradition instituted in the fourth century in Egypt and in the sixth century on the Holy Mount.

Here in Columbus, fruits of that culture, which has been in existence for over a millennium, are preserved on our microfilms.

Thus, the Hilandar Research Library and the Resource Center for Medieval Slavic Studies represent a bridge between the Holy Mount and the United States and the world,

a bridge between the past and the present, and an ever growing repository for the preservation, description and study of the medieval Slavic recorded past.