The Psalter of the Holy Prophet David… composed in verse

„The Psalter of the Holy Prophet David… composed in verse”

Text: Ginel Lazăr; photo: Marius Amarie.

The psalter composed in verse represents the most important and renowned writing owed to humanist scholar and hierarch Dosoftei, impressive through its age and literary value. A premiere in the history of Romanian literature, it was translated from Eastern sources between 1665 and 1670 and in 1673 it was printed in the cultural center which was the Orthodox Monastery in Uniev (Galicia).

The cult book comprises the text of the 150 psalms in rhyming lyrics of various lengths, organized in 20 kathismas. The versified work of metropolitan bishop Dosoftei led to the creation of an original poetic language and was called by the classics of Romanian contemporary literature the first and most valuable monument of poetic language within the medieval Romanian space.

Visual observations indicated a precarious state of conservation, as the book presented tears, folds, humidity areas which attracted adherent dirt, various spots, wax deposits, traces of fungi and xylophage insects, foxing. The gathered results, corroborated with macro- and microscopic observations were at the basis of the conservation/restoration treatments applied. The book was submitted to a thorough restoration process which meant: the dry cleaning of the sheets, disinfection and fumigation, wet cleaning, the deacidification of the support, procedures for: the protection of the inks, the filling out of blanks and the closing of tear lines, the rehydration, softening and regeneration of the leather, the sewing and re-sewing of the book block, the restoration of the cover,  the pressing and pasting of the book block,  the re-attachment of the covers to the book block,  the chromatic integration of the leather cover. Also, a protective Solender-type case was made.