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Scholar, traveler and negotiator Constantin von Tischendorf undertook an international quest in the mid-19th century to uncover important ancient Biblical manuscripts. His travels led him to St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai, where he discovered ancient parchment leaves—later to be known collectively as the Codex Sinaiticus—supposedly destined for the fire. In the course of several visits to the monastery, he persuaded the monks to let him take the pages back with him to Europe as a loan. More than 150 years later, the codex still hasn’t been returned.