Cardinal Richelieu, portrayed by Tim Curry in the 1993 film The Three Musketeers was so widely hated that bonfires were lit across several French provinces to celebrate his death in 1642. More than 150 years later, revolutionaries opened his tomb at the Sorbonne and stole the preserved front of his head. It passed through private hands and was occasionally exhibited until Napoleon III arranged for its return and reinterment in 1866.
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