A bronze book cover designed by Salvador Dalí, weighing around 150 kilograms, has been stolen from a contemporary art museum in the central French town of Issoire. The theft took place overnight between October 4 and 5 and was discovered on Monday morning. The object — the cover of the Livre de l'Apocalypse — is a remarkable piece of craftsmanship, set with gold, precious stones, seashells and even items of cutlery. The cover was the centerpiece of an ambitious publishing project undertaken by the French publisher Joseph Forêt over the years 1958 to 1961: a luxury edition of the Book of Revelation bringing together 14 prominent artists and writers of the period. Contributors included Jean Cocteau, Bernard Buffet and Léonard Foujita, with Leonor Fini and Ossip Zadkine also involved, alongside writers such as Jean Giono. Dalí's contribution took the form of a small figure of Christ painted onto a golden plate. Pablo Picasso had also been invited to participate, but — according to Le Figaro — refused on the grounds that it was either him or Dalí, and Forêt chose the Catalan surrealist. The edition's 150 sheepskin pages were left untouched and remain safe. The work belonged to collector Christian Karoutzos, who acquired it in 2003, and was on display at the Centre d'Art Contemporain de Issoire. France's Gendarmerie has opened an investigation into the break-in, which was first reported by Le Monde. Given that the stolen object weighs 330 pounds, questions remain over how the thieves removed it from the building and transported it away, and investigators will be examining how the museum's security was defeated.