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The authenticity of the valuable find, made coincidentally by researcher Dieter Oppitz, was confirmed on Wednesday in Ljubljana by Trubar expert Kozma Ahačič.

The "Church Order" (Cerkovne ordninge), was published by the Slovenian Protestant minister and reformer in Germany and contains Trubar's vision of a legal, organisational and spiritual framework for the Protestant Church in Slovenia.

It is also valued for its language quality - Trubar is considered the father of the Slovenian language - since it was meant above all for the period's intellectual elite, Ahačič stressed.

Between 300 and 400 copies were published, which was little for protestant works then. Trubar was slightly over 50 when he wrote the book, which also touches on the idea of introducing basic education.

The book was banned as part of Counter-Reformation supported by Charles II and Trubar was exiled. The only copy believed to have survived - another was destroyed or lost in Dresden during WWII - was discovered in the Vatican library in 1971, it is however said to be in poorer shape than the newly found one.