Opening of the in situ exhibition

On February 8, 2022, the Library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj opened the exhibition including the 21 manuscript fragments restored and described within the FRAGMED project, as well as other exhibits.

Several essential stages of the project “FRAGMED – A Transylvanian puzzle: Reconstructing medieval culture from fragments of codices” were completed by the opening of the in situ exhibition, at the Library of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch. Thus, two years of restoration work, expertise and elaboration of classification applications for the 21 fragments of medieval manuscripts on parchment were crowned by the opening of this exhibition. Fragments of the oldest manuscripts of Cluj and Transylvania (12th-16th centuries) were brought to life, which had been used as book covers, in the binding of books from the XVI-XVII centuries. The host institution, through the mediation of the project team, thus offered Romania a new heritage, which, although it existed, was ignored. The collection of “fragmenta codicum” (Fragm. Cod. Lat.) was born at the Library of the Romanian Academy in Cluj-Napoca. The opening of the exhibition benefited from the presence of several personalities from Cluj: Acad. Doru Pamfil, President of the Cluj-Napoca Branch of the Romanian Academy, Prof. Dr. Sorin Crișan, Director of the Library of the Romanian Academy, Cluj-Napoca Branch, Prof. Dr. Daniel David, Rector of the Babeș-Bolyai University, PS Benedict Bistrițeanul, Prof. Univ. Dr. Adrian Papahagi, Senior Researcher II, Dr. Codruța Cuceu, project manager. We were honored with the presence of more than 50 other friends, colleagues and scholars from Cluj, the country and abroad.

During the event, our special guests from the Budapest Institute of Musicology gave us a royal treat. Three of the exhibited choral manuscripts came to life through the voices of Eszter Gaál and Mózes Enyedi:
1. Introit, sung on the feast of Saint Michael, the patron saint of the Catholic bishopric of Transylvania, from the gradual of the church of Saint Michael in Cluj, beginning of the century. XVI (Alba Iulia, Bibl. Batthyaneum MS I.1 & Cluj, BAR, Fragm. Cod. Lat. 19-21);
2. The response ‘Lapides torrentes’, sung at the feast of Saint Stephen the protomartyr, from a Cluj fragment from the first half of the 15th century (Cluj, BAR, Fragm. Cod. Lat. 14-15);
3. Antiphon ‘Ave Spes Nostra’, sung by the Annunciation, from the antiphonal of the cathedral in Oradea, XV century (Győr, Egyházmegyei Kincstár és Könyvtár, s.n. & Cluj, BAR Fragm. Cod. Lat. 1-2).

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