World Exclusive: The Most Exquisite Book of All Time Redfoo The Rescue
World Exclusive: The Most Exquisite Book of All Time
According to the world’s greatest scholars it is the most exquisite book of all time, perhaps the most beautiful of all. It is also one of the most mysterious books ever created. Handmade by the finest craftsmen and painters of the Renaissance period it has been surrounded by secrecy and intrigue for more than half a millennium. Hidden away for most of those 500 years, the legendary Rothschild Prayer Book has passed through the hands – and been coveted and desired – by the most powerful men and women in history. From Royal courts to the world’s wealthiest banking family it was looted by Adolf Hitler’s marauding troops, and stored deep below ground in Austrian salt mines, during the Second World War. Very few have ever laid eyes on it. Each and every page is inlaid with gold. But it is the paintings, and the scenes they portray, that are considered masterpieces in miniature. The manuscript is unique, not one other copy was made, and who it was made for is perhaps the biggest mystery of all. It was the very start of the 16th century and mankind was about to undergo the greatest period of discovery and change. It was a time when many scholars still thought the earth was flat, but Christopher Columbus was setting sail and Leonardo da Vinci was beginning to make incredible advances. The prayer book has borne witness to all this and more, including the discovery of Australia. Eight months ago another great secrecy emerged – who was the mystery buyer who paid a record $15 million to become the book’s new protector and guardian. Following that purchase the book vanished yet again. In the art world this is the most baffling secret of all. Sunday Night’s world-wide report will make headlines. It ends with reporter Steve Pennell’s holding this priceless treasure in one of the modern world’s most dynamic cities. But who is the m
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