“The charters of Bosnian rulers and nobles of the Middle Ages are one of the most significant aspects of the cultural heritage of today’s Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their importance from today’s perspective is manifold. These documents offer a wide range of information about a past era and state. These documents highlight all the elements of Bosnian statehood at that time, including its political, economic, and cultural systems. Some charters are more substantial, significant, and solemn than others, and some have become extremely well known to the public, while others have been totally neglected. Their common characteristic is that they are the voices of Bosnian bans, kings, nobles, that is, the Bosnian people of the Middle Ages. As only a small fraction of the total number of created charters were preserved during the five centuries of Bosnian state existence, it is imperative that the letters, words, sentences, and messages that survived until today be respected, interpreted and correctly understood. The documents of the Bosnian chancery were written in the Old Slavic language, which was also called the Bosnian language by neighbors at the time. The Cyrillic script of Bosnian charters shows distinctive peculiarities characteristic of Bosnian chancery, nevertheless, in terms of modern social norms, there is a serious issue with its perception. Charters written in Latin reflect Bosnia’s strong incorporation into the unique feudal European cultural matrix. In order to understand Bosnia and Herzegovina’s history, heritage, and elements of identity, it is a necessity to bring these written words close to our present and future generations.”- Dr. Dedić said at the opening of the exhibition.
