We the Italians November 21, 2016 - 85 | Page 44

# 85 November 21 st 2016
Central Institute of Restoration , the Codex Purpureus Rossanensis has been returned to the Diocesan Museum Citizen , expressly rearranged and redesigned for the occasion .
The Codex , known just by a small enclave of people passionate of bibliophile , is a sixth-century after Christ artifact so important that UNESCO has listed it in the Memory of the World Register in 2015 .
It is a book entirely composed of pages of purple parchment written in Greek capital letters that tell part of the Gospel ( only that of Matthew and much of that of Mark ), and some letters . A Gospels then , but with a particular characteristic : it is completely written in gold and silver and not with usual inks of the time or with the original binding of the ' 700 .
This masterpiece was accidentally discovered in 1846 in the sacristy of the cathedral of Rossano , but only thirty years later it was extensively studied by two German scholars , who revealed it to the scientific community . After an unfortunate restoration immediately after the First World War , the community started asking questions about the document . Who created it ? Where was it made ? Who was the client , and why with just two gospels ?
Confronting it with similar findings preserved in Vienna and Paris , the almost unanimous conclusion was to date it from the sixth century AD , being Syria the area where it was created .
The preciousness of the materials used
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