Static raw HTML page

On the server there is a static HTML page example.html in my root folder of the WordPress install. Now when a user types www.example.com/example.html I want WordPress to be smart and bypass all normal routing behavior and instead just display that static example.html page.

This looks so easy to me concept-wise but I can’t find a solution after looking for hours.
What exactly do I need to change in my .htaccess file? Is it even that .httaccess file or do I need to make such a change in the site available file?

Sorry for being a WordPress newbie 🙁

Here is what I have in my own .htaccess file that does what you’re looking for:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteRule ^example.html$ /wp-content/raw/example.html [L]
RewriteRule ^download$ /wp-content/raw/download-ebook.html [L]
RewriteRule ^thanks$ /wp-content/raw/book-opt-in-thank-you.html [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>

# END WordPress