Overview
- The one‑of‑a‑kind volume known as El Apocalipsis de San Juan was taken from the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Issoire during the night, with prosecutors confirming the theft after the overnight Sunday–Monday loss.
- The work is an enormous artist’s book weighing about 210 kilos, measuring roughly 75 by 60 cm, made of 200 vellum pages and containing contributions by Salvador Dalí, Jean Cocteau and other mid‑20th century artists.
- The Fiscalía de Clermont‑Ferrand opened the investigation and the Gendarmería says thieves bypassed security; no arrests or recoveries have been reported so far.
- Investigators are focused on two main lines of inquiry because the book has an ornate bronze cover whose reported weight varies between accounts: a targeted theft for a private collector or immediate destruction to sell the bronze by weight.
- Owner Christian Karoutzos called the theft an attack on national heritage and the case has raised fresh questions about how small regional museums protect rare, heavy and hard‑to‑sell cultural objects.