Blagaj inscription

Blagaj inscription (Serbian: Благајски натпис, Blagajski natpis) is an Old Serbian epigraph in the Bosnian Cyrillic script in the form of a stone tablet, dated to the 12th century. It was found in 1912 near the ruins of the old Bišća castle and the locality of Vrači. On it, as the founder of the church of St. Cosmas and Damian, is mentioned the brother of Stefan Nemanja—Miroslav.

Blagaj inscription
View of the tablet

A text in Bosnian Cyrillic is engraved on the stone slab. It is considered one of the oldest medieval inscriptions written in Old Serbian Cyrillic according to Boris Radaković.

The text on the plaque discusses the construction of the church of St. Cosmas and Damian in Blagaj na Buna, which was completed and consecrated in 1194. The plaque was installed above the entrance door to the church or within the church itself. It is one of the oldest monuments of early medieval literacy among the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with the Hum tablet.

The Blagaj board was discovered in the 1950s. The second part was accidentally found in the grave of Kate Boras at the cemetery in Blagaj in 1955. Historian Ljubomir Stojanović published the inscription in scientific literature. The found piece contained an inscription stating that a prefect built a church in Podgrađe on his property during the time of the famous Serbian prefect Stefan Nemanja.

During the excavation at the site where the tablet was found, two oval tablets were discovered in the same grave. The owner of the grave reported that those slab fragments and slabs with an inscription were brought from Podgrađe in Blagaj, specifically from the locality of Vrači. This finding has aided in the research of the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian.

Inscription

Marco Vego determined that each line of the inscription could have from 30 to 32 letters; along with other facts, he reconstructed the inscription as follows in Serbian:

ВА ИМЕ ОЦА И СНА И СВЕТАГО ДУХА ЈА ЖУ

ПАН МИРОСЛАВ ЗИДАХ ЦРКВА СВЕТАГ

О КОЗМЕ И ДАМИЈАНА У СВОИХ СЕЛИЈАХ У Д

НИ ВЕЛНЕГА ЖУПАНА СЛАВНАГО НЕМАНЕ.

There is a possibility that the inscription is not older and that the church was the endowment of a later Orthodox prefect Miroslav, as the inscription mentions the day of Saint Nemanja, which would imply the day on which the Church celebrates prefect Nemanja. The calendar of Đurađ Crnojević from 1494 listed Stefan Nemanja as a full red letter (high holiday) and under the monastic name of Simeon of Serbia. In 1385, Balša II referred to the Nemanjićs as his dear ancestors, stating, "...with the prayers of my holy forefathers, Simeon Nemanja, the first Serbian saint of peace, and the saint of Sava...", which indicates a strong cult of the first Nemanjićs even in the pre-Turkish period.

However, most historians assert that this indicates it was during the rule of Nemanja, and that the founder of the church was his brother Miroslav, who ruled in Hum at that time.