The front chronicle of Ivan the Terrible. Front Chronicle of Tsar Ivan the Terrible - Source of Truth

For the first time in open and free access on the website of the OLDP (Society of Lovers of Ancient Literature) the legendary Front Chronicle of Tsar Ivan the Terrible appeared. The manuscript with hundreds of colorful miniatures can be downloaded from the links below.

Facial chronicle was created in the 16th century by order of the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible for the education of the royal children. The work on compiling this Code was headed by the most educated person of his time - St. Macarius, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia. The best scribes and icon painters of the capital worked on compiling the Code. What they have done: a collection of all reliably known sources from Holy Scripture (the text of the Septuagint) to the history of Alexander the Great and the writings of Josephus Flavius - the entire written history of mankind from the creation of the world to the 16th century inclusive. All times and all peoples that had a written language are reflected in dozens of books of this collection. Such a collection of chronicles, decorated with a huge number of highly artistic illustrations, was not created by any civilization of mankind: neither Europe, nor Asia, nor America or Africa. The fate of the Russian Tsar himself and his children was tragic. The front annalistic code was not useful to the princes. After reading the Facial Code, part of which is devoted to the period of Ivan the Terrible, it becomes clear why. Over the next hundreds of years, official historiography appeared, often opportunistic and politically biased, and therefore reliable chronicle sources were doomed to destruction or correction, that is, falsification. The front annalistic code survived these centuries due to the fact that after the death of Ivan the Terrible, during the period of unrest and timelessness, this tome became a coveted object for "enlightened" bibliophiles. Its fragments were taken to their libraries by the most influential nobles of their time: Osterman, Sheremetev, Golitsyn and others. After all, even then high-ranking collectors understood that there was no price for such a folio with sixteen thousand miniatures. And so the Code survived until the revolution and was dumped in heaps in several museums and depositories.

Already today, through the efforts of enthusiasts, disparate books and sheets were brought together from different repositories. And the revived Society of Ancient Literature Lovers made this masterpiece accessible to everyone. An unparalleled historical source will now be able to receive free of charge many major educational establishments world, national libraries different countries and, of course, our compatriots to raise children on this treasure of experience and wisdom of millennia. In such an amazing way, the work that was done for the royal children five hundred years ago went to our children, dear contemporaries, on which we congratulate you from the bottom of our hearts!

First volume

Part 1 -