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The library owned by Ivan the Terrible, the legendary Liberia, For more than 400 years, scientists have been searching unsuccessfully. It’s believed that most of the valuable tomes falling into the hands of Ivan the Terrible, originally was in the library of Constantinople (now Istanbul), which was taken out of the city in 1453 and given to storage to the pope. It is likely that the Constantinople the collection of books included the ancient scrolls of the richest and most the most ancient library of Alexandria.
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Liberia was brought to Russia by Sofia Paleolog, Ivan’s grandmother Grozny, a close relative of the emperor of Byzantium Constantine XI. To protect the library from destructive Moscow fires and pass it on to descendants, the princess ordered build an underground book depository. So ancient manuscripts and scrolls became the property of Vasily III, son of Sophia, and after passed to the disposal of Ivan IV, known in the history of Russia as Ivan groznyj. The prince repeatedly replenished the family library and guarded her from ruin.
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What was the legendary Liberia in the time of Ivan Grozny, known from some surviving sources. there is evidence that a certain shepherd John Vetterman was invited the king himself in this unique book depository with a request to translate into Russian language library contents. Vetterman flatly refused seeing what its dimensions are: he would not be able in his whole life translate so many manuscripts. It is likely that Wetterman was compiled a catalog of books from the underground storage, which in further was lost.
Historians believe that Liberia included at least 800 copies of valuable scrolls and tomes, among which were rare editions of Virgil, Titus, Plato and Aristophanes, possibly before still not known to the world. According to legend, the library kept first gospels and old scrolls in the occult sciences.
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Discover what remains of Liberia – all of these priceless books, now is not possible. Supposedly an ancient collection of books is located near Moscow, in the underground passages, on the study of which may take many years. According to another theory, Ivan Grozny near the end of his reign took out the family library for the limits of the capital, according to some researchers, in Vologda or Alexander settlement.
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