The ‘Book of Revelation’, by Joseph Forêt, has been stolen from the Issoire contemporary art center, located in the French Auvergne. It is a specimen of incalculable value and weighs 210 kilograms whose cover is sculpted in bronze by Salvador Dalí.
The Clermont-Ferrand Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed that the theft of the work, an “exceptional and unique piece”, occurred on the night of Sunday, October 4 to Monday, October 5, and the criminal investigation has been entrusted to the town’s gendarmerie.
The original work is unique and weighs approximately 210 kilos. Its cover alone weighs approximately 150 kg. The complete copy was conceived as a total work of art, imagined and published by Joseph Forêt, based on the Book of Revelation.
The owner of the book and the art gallery, Christian Karoutzos, has expressed his dismay at the theft. “It is a masterpiece, worthy of a cathedral, unique in the world. France was murdered last night, French heritage was murdered,” said the collector, according to the French media ICI Pays d’Auvergne.
The other recent thefts in European museums
The theft of the ‘Book of Revelation’ joins other works of art that have been stolen from other European museums. The best-known robbery was the one perpetrated at the Louvre Museum in Paris on October 19, 2025, in which thieves took nine pieces of the Crown Jewels of France from the Apollo Gallery. The operation lasted between seven and eight minutes and took place during normal opening hours.
More recently, also in France, two thieves broke into a museum dedicated to Pierre-Auguste Renoir, taking four works of art, two of which they left behind as they fled. The works were valued at 10 million dollars.
In Spain, the most recent case was the theft of the treasure of Villena, in Alicante, in August, where the assailants took in just four minutes part of the set of gold, silver, iron and amber dating back to the Bronze Age, in addition to three crowns of the Virgin and Child that also guarded the center.
