In France, a 210-kilogram book "The Apocalypse of Saint John" with a cover by Salvador Dalí has been stolen

In France, a 210-kilogram book, "The Apocalypse of Saint John," with a cover by Salvador Dalí, has been stolen from a museum.

In France, from a museum in the town of Issoire, unidentified individuals stole a unique copy of the heaviest and most expensive book in the world — "The Apocalypse of Saint John" — weighing about 210 kilograms. Its bronze cover was crafted by Salvador Dalí: it weighs 150 kilograms and is decorated with gold, precious stones, and seashells. The police do not yet understand how such a heavy exhibit was carried out unnoticed.

The theft occurred on Sunday night at the Contemporary Art Center in the Puy-de-Dôme department. The mayor of Issoire called the loss "inestimable," while the owner of the work described it as a "blow to France's heritage."

The publication itself was conceived in 1958 by the French publisher Joseph Forêt. Fourteen famous artists and writers of the 20th century worked on the project, including Jean Cocteau, Bernard Buffet, and Jean Giono. Dalí created the massive bronze cover for the book.

The book consists of 150 huge sheets of parchment. Materials from 300,000 sheepskins were selected to create it, and the calligraphic design took about 2,000 hours. The text features 550 letters executed in gold.

From 1961 to 1972, the work was exhibited nearly 150 times in various countries around the world. Later, it was kept in Switzerland, and then ended up with Japanese owners who intended to sell it in parts. In 2003, the book was acquired by Christian Caruzzo, head of an art restoration company in Issoire, who exhibited it in his museum.

It is still unknown exactly how the thieves managed to carry out the 210-kilogram exhibit and how they entered the museum in the first place. The investigation is being conducted by the Clermont-Ferrand gendarmerie.

The theft has become yet another high-profile robbery of French museums.

Last year, French crown jewels worth about 88 million euros were taken from the Louvre.

In July, 27 exhibits worth about 4.5 million euros were stolen from the Lalique Museum, and in the same month, the 2,500-year-old golden torc of the Princess of Vix was stolen from a museum in Burgundy.

Meanwhile, in September, two intruders broke into the Renoir Museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer and carried out four paintings in less than three minutes.