Strahov Monastery and the Devil's Bible

Look up at Strahov Monastery. It's peaceful now, but the secrets connected to this place are anything but. The story begins in a Benedictine monastery in Bohemia in the early 13th century. A monk had broken his vows and faced a terrifying punishment — being walled up alive. Desperate to escape, he made a promise: he would create, in a single night, a book containing all human knowledge. By midnight, he was failing. So he prayed to Lucifer himself, trading his immortal soul for help finishing the work. The result was the Codex Gigas — the "Giant Book." At 92 centimeters tall and weighing nearly 75 kilograms, it remains the largest medieval manuscript in the world. Its pages, made from the skins of 160 donkeys, contain the entire Latin Bible, historical chronicles, and medical texts. And on one haunting full page — a vivid portrait of the Devil himself. The book eventually made its way into the personal collection of Emperor Rudolf II, right here in Prague. Then, in 1648, Swedish armies swept through the city and took it as a war trophy. It's never come back. Today, it sits in Stockholm — but its shadow still lingers here.