Les Très Riches Heures, a ‘book of hours’ made by artists felled by the Black Death, will be shown in France this summer

A celebrated manuscript from the middle ages that inspired a Walt Disney castle but has been unseen by the public and scholars for more than 40 years will go on display in France this summer.

Pages from Les Très Riches Heures (The Very Rich Hours) – an elaborately decorated prayer book from the 15th century – will be exhibited at the Château de Chantilly, north of Paris, after a costly restoration. It has not been seen, even by historians and academics, since the 1980s.