Scroll with the novel "the 120 days of Sodom" was declared a national treasure of France and removed from the Paris Aguttes auction. The state has 30 months to buy back the manuscript

Erotic novel "the 120 days of Sodom" about the adventures of four noblemen were written by Donaciano Alphonse Francois de Sade (Marquis de Sade) close handwriting on 33 small scrolls with a total length of 12 meters. It was in 1785 in the Bastille.

the Manuscript was going to auction Aguttes on Wednesday, but at the request of the French Ministry of culture manuscript, estimated at €4-6 million, was withdrawn from sale. In addition to the manuscripts of the Marquis de Sade, the auction was removed and four works of the French surrealist andré Breton, valued at €5.5 million.

the state has 30 months to raise the funds needed to purchase these manuscripts. Money (equivalent to market value at which they would sell) is supposed to collect through donations of citizens and the search for large patrons. If this can not be done — manuscripts will again be put up for auction. According to the auction house Aguttes, in both lots were interested buyers from Europe and the United States.

Both lots come from the collection of the bankrupt French company Aristophil. It was a mutual investment Fund, formed in 1990, had about 130 thousands of works of art and literary monuments and 18 000 investors who bought a stake in these works. The Fund filed for bankruptcy in 2015. Among other monuments in this collection — manuscript of the novel of Alexander Dumas "the Three Musketeers", notes Richard Strauss and others.

the Material was prepared by Maria Onuchina, AI

Sources: reuters.com, artinvestment.ru