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The chronicle is unofficially dubbed the “Tsar Book” by enthusiasts in parallel with two other famous pieces of Ivan IV’s legacy – the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell. Its ten thousand pages hold more than 17,000 illustrations and give a historical account from the time of Adam and Eve, though Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire, all the way to the then-contemporary history of Russia. Work on the chronicle is thought to have lasted for at least a decade and involved 10 monk scribes and 15 illustrators.

Miniature illustrations account for about two thirds of the literary piece and include religious stories, depictions of battles, landscapes and day-to-day life scenery. In minute detail they show arms, clothes, tools and other objects used by Russians’ ancestors.

Today the chronicle is bound in ten tomes, which are stored in Russia’s State Historical Museum, the Library of the Academy of Sciences and National Library. Until recently, only a handful of historians had access to the original, although wealthy collectors willing to pay about $80,000 for a complete facsimile publication could read it in full.

The non-profit Society of Lovers of Ancient Literature is set to change this situation, making the chronicle freely available for everyone interested. They have already uploaded the first two tomes to their website and plan to eventually have the complete archive online. A printed reproduction is also being considered.

Click to enlarge “By autumn I hope we have published first four tomes of the Illustrated Chronicle,” businessman German Sterligov, who sponsors the project, told RT. “We’ll hand out copies for free to every person who walks to us and can read in old Slavonic.”

The publication will be titled “Textbook of Life for Tsar Children”, according to Sterligov.

“The book was commissioned by Ivan IV for his children; that is why it is so rich in illustrations. It is an interesting reading for kids, because illustration occasionally speaks more than the text, and are very colorful too,” he said.

Since the chronicle was meant for just two children, it is also the most unbiased Russian historical source of the time, the philanthropist believes. A father had no reason to lie to the future rulers of the land.