In the small Czech town of Kutná Hora, there is a one-of-a-kind chapel. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it was built not of stone and brick, but of human bones. Researchers estimate that the chandelier hanging from the ceiling was made from the remains of 5,000 people.
It took about 10 thousand to make the ceiling garlands, about the same - 10 thousand - went to build a place for the choir. For the construction of this eerie church, the bones of people who died from the plague that took place in Kutna in 1318 were used. The disease broke out in this city quite suddenly, as if it came out of nowhere, without affecting, at the same time, the inhabitants of neighboring villages.
According to contemporaries who survived those terrible times, the plague could break out because a strange book was kept in the city, which depicted the oldest and largest image of the devil of all available on Earth. This book, wherever it appeared, brought misfortune everywhere.
The book called "Codex Gigas" (formerly called "The Bible of the Devil") is 91 cm high and 22 centimeters thick. After modern researchers found it in a monastery in Podlazice, they decided to carry out radiocarbon analysis. It turned out that this book was written in 1240.
The calfskin pages are filled by hand, in the same handwriting by an unknown author. Of the 640 pages, only 624 have survived to this day, the rest are lost forever. The missing pages were behind an enormous drawing of the devil. One can only guess what was written in them.
The handwriting and style of the illustrations show that the entire codex was rewritten and decorated by one person. Tradition says that this was a monk who was imprisoned in a cell for violation of discipline, and he completed the manuscript in one night, calling for the help of the devil.
M. Gullik estimated the time of the production of the code at about 20-30 years, considering the latter more probable. He proceeded with the calculation that the average scribe of the Middle Ages was able to copy about 100 lines of text a day. Thus, with non-stop work and a 6-hour daylight hours, it would take at least 5 years to rewrite the texts.
Considering the annual and daily cycles of worship, it is unlikely that a scribe could work more than 3 hours a day. Considering that the text contains many ornaments, full-size illustrations, complex initials, it took the monk-scribe almost all his life to rewrite and design it.
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The name of the scribe is unknown. The martyrology mentions a certain reclusive monk Herman (lat. Hermanus monachus inclusus), and this circumstance is associated with the legend of the codex. However, according to another version, the scribe could be called Sobisslaus, this name is mentioned in the prayer to the Virgin Mary in the marginal on folio 273r. These versions are completely unprovable.
There is an opinion that the predictions of the devil were here, of which only the last drains have survived, saying that a tyrant, supported by Satan himself, will come to Earth and make an attempt to take over the world, but nothing will come of it, because the northern peoples will interfere with him.
Scientists have come to the conclusion that Adolf Hitler is a tyrant. He involved most of humanity in the Second World War. The goal he pursued was to gain world domination by him. However, his plans were destroyed by none other than the northern people. This book also contains an excerpt from the phrase, which mentioned the attempt of the German rulers to take over the world three times.
The researchers were interested in the information obtained from this passage, and they began to search for the beginning of the phrase, while breaking the archives of the Czech Republic and neighboring countries. Finally, in the archives of Cologne, they found the book "The Oracle" (the modern name "Alchemical riddles"), the author of which was the medieval alchemist Albert von Bolsted, or as his contemporaries called him Albert the Great.
This was a well-known personality at that time, he became the first doctor of philosophy in Germany.
Albert the great
The book "Oracle" written by Albert the Great in the XIII century contains predictions about the future history of mankind, up to the XXIV century, and many of them have already occurred. In one of the prophecies, scientists discovered a phrase very similar in meaning to the one that was written in the Codex Gigas.
The meaning of this phrase was that over a period of time of seven hundred years, Germany will be very close to gaining world domination. If we recall history, indeed, back in the distant 16th century, the German emperor Charles V tried to conquer all of Europe. The German ruler intended to realize his idea peacefully - with the help of marriages between representatives of the crowned heads. He was able to unite Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.
The matter did not go further, because the German aristocracy, dissatisfied with the actions of their emperor, unleashed internecine wars within Germany itself. The next ruler who tried to conquer the world was Emperor Wilhelm II. He unleashed the First World War, in which Germany was defeated. And finally, Adolf Hitler, who suffered a fiasco in World War II.
The prophecies of Albert the Great are coming true in our time. In the distant XIII century, when mankind did not have the slightest idea about electricity, he predicted its appearance. He also predicted the emergence of firearms, cars and aircraft, and even robots.
Albert the Great predicts the most interesting events in the history of mankind at the end of the XXIV century. He writes that in a millennium, which will come after the burial of Albert the Great, angels will descend from heaven to Earth, as was the case in antediluvian times. Scientists are of the opinion that this prediction refers to contacts with representatives of extraterrestrial intelligence. Unfortunately, the prophet did not have time to finish writing how these contacts would end.
This last prediction was written in 1280, a few days before his death. Albert the Great was buried in Cologne, in the Church of St. Andrew. In 1932, Albert the Great was canonized and became known as Saint Albert. Hundreds of pilgrims come here every day, they want to bow to the relics of the great scientist of the Middle Ages.
The Devil's Bible, hidden under bulletproof glass, is now on display in the Klementinum gallery in Prague. The treasure of national culture is only temporarily staying in its historical homeland. During the Thirty Years War, in 1649, the Swedes took her with them to Stockholm as a trophy. There she must return. Only specialists from the Swedish Royal Library have the opportunity to flip through the pages of a sensational book - after putting on gloves on their hands.
