A bronze cover of the 'Apocalypse of Saint John' created by Salvador Dali has been stolen from the Center for Contemporary Art in Issoire, France. The cover weighs about 150 kg, and the total weight of the book with parchment pages reaches 210 kg. The theft was confirmed by the prosecutor's office of Clermont-Ferrand, as reported by infohub.kz.
The work disappeared on the night of October 4-5. The bronze cover is adorned with gold, precious stones, and seashells.
The book was created between 1958 and 1961 at the initiative of French publisher Joseph Foret. It exists in a single copy. Seven artists and seven writers worked on the piece, including Salvador Dali, Leonard Foujita, Bernard Buffet, Jean Cocteau, and Emil Cioran.
The text is handwritten on 150 parchment sheets. In the past, the edition was considered the heaviest and most expensive book in the world.
After international exhibitions, the work was kept in Switzerland and later ended up with Japanese owners. It was subsequently acquired by collector and restorer Christian Caroutzos. The cover and some parchment sheets were displayed at his art center in Issoire.
The prosecutor's office called the stolen work 'exceptional and unique.' The investigation has been assigned to the gendarmerie. The circumstances of the theft have not yet been disclosed.