Sophia treasure

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As Sophie treasure a collection of jewelry pieces is referred to as grave goods from the Dresden Church of St. Sophia were recovered in several stages. It is not a " treasure " in the narrower sense. The collection is now, although not complete since 1977, in the Dresden City Museum .

history

In connection with plans to renew the choir stalls and the renewal of the central heating, construction work began in the Sophienkirche from 1909. One discovered burial chambers lying one above the other in several layers, which at that time had already been very badly destroyed. This resulted in considerable difficulties during the construction work in the area of ​​the open tombs , the condition of which ultimately led to the interior renovation carried out from 1910 under the supervision of city planning officer Hans Erlwein , the approximately 60 partly open grave chambers in the church interior having to be emptied and then filled.

The grave goods found in these tombs were confiscated by the city of Dresden and, if they were not sold to private individuals at the time, handed over to the Dresden City Museum , which was then still in the New Town Hall . The pieces of jewelry from 1910, which were not sold, initially formed the first basis for what was later to be called the Sophia treasure .

Pendant with electoral hat and skull from 1687

Other crypts of the Sophienkirche, especially those that were not filled in during the work in 1910 in the southern part, were destroyed after the church ruins were demolished on October 12, 1964 during the excavation work for the large restaurant Am Zwinger . Only four days after the start of the excavation work, during which the crypts and their contents were removed without regard to their historical value or consideration of the buried dead, was it possible for the State Office for Monument Preservation to “interrupt the raging”. Under the direction of the City History Museum, grave goods such as coins, rings, vessels, gilded bay leaves and crucifixes were recovered from the 70 grave chambers that were still in existence. They were exhibited when the City Museum reopened in 1966.

The other crypts, which had been preserved intact until then, were damaged in 1966/67 when a supply cable was laid to the Kulturpalast . The find log of the excavations again carried out by the city museum shows numerous rings, gold and silver jewelry and two crucifixes.

In total, the collection of grave goods recovered from the Sophienkirche in 1910, 1964 and 1966/67 form the Sophia treasure . This includes a total of 56 golden grave goods, 100 rings made of pure gold, dozen of bracelets and chains made of gold and enamel, and eight gold medal chains.

Art theft 1977

On September 20, 1977, strangers stole 57 pieces of jewelry from the Dresden City Museum, including numerous pieces of jewelry from the Sophia treasure, in one of the most spectacular art thefts ever to be found in the GDR . This robbery was so spectacular because it took place during the opening hours of the museum and could take place in the museum itself despite the camera surveillance. A total of 12 suspects were identified, over 3,600 interrogations carried out and, unusual for the time in the GDR, the population was asked to help, which made this art theft known to the public.

In order to clarify the robbery, the phantom and search draftsman Karl-Heinz Sobierajski, together with the graphic artist Martin Hänsch, made precise drawings, especially of the objects of which no or only bad photos were available, which were compiled together with the photos into a wanted catalog were. This work - and the catalog itself - formed the basis for the fact that 23 years later large parts of the stolen objects in Oslo could be identified.

In 1986 the first part of a chain was found, rather by accident. Further objects appeared in 1999 at an art dealer in Oslo. 38 pieces of jewelery were identified using the Sobierajski and Hänsch catalog and initially seized by the Norwegian police. Despite intensive efforts by the Norwegian police, the route from the Dresden City Museum to the Norwegian art market could only be partially traced. After difficult negotiations, these 38 pieces of jewelry were finally bought back for the museum by the city of Dresden in 2005, as the bad faith acquisition could not be proven to the owner. Both sides keep silent about the purchase price.

Another pendant on a chain was identified in Hanover in 2002 and returned to the museum in 2006. Thus, 40 pieces of the stolen part of the Sophia Treasure are currently in the possession of the City Museum, 17 objects are still missing.

According to a broadcast by Terra X: Sophienschatz Secret Files , the background to the art theft is, among other things, the assumption that the State Security of the GDR was directly involved in it:

“Only in summer 2008 will ZDF research provide the final piece of the puzzle. A government insider from the area of ​​the GDR art trade says that the order to steal treasure came from the government apparatus, directly from the office of Stasi boss Mielke . "

The perpetrators and backers of this robbery have not yet been captured, the Sophia treasure is still incomplete: For example, the 1.3 kilogram gold king's chain of the Privileged Archery Society in Dresden is still missing .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Folke Stimmel u. A .: Stadtlexikon Dresden A-Z . Verlag der Kunst Dresden and Basel, 1994, ISBN 3-364-00300-9 , p. 392
  2. ↑ More details in the main article Sophienkirche .
  3. ^ Matthias Lerm : Farewell to old Dresden. Loss of historical building stock after 1945. 2nd, slightly revised edition, Hinstorff Verlag Rostock, 2001, ISBN 3-356-00876-5 , p. 238.
  4. ^ Matthias Lerm: Farewell to old Dresden. Loss of historical building substance after 1945. 2nd, slightly revised edition, Hinstorff Verlag Rostock, 2001, ISBN 3-356-00876-5 , p. 239. According to Lerm, it is the objects that were also affected by the 1977 art theft .
  5. ↑ According to information from TV tip: Sophienschatz secret files ( memento from September 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) on the website of the Prisma program guide
  6. ↑ a b Sophienschatz secret files: The greatest art theft in the GDR ( memento of December 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), documentation by 3sat
  7. ↑ Karl-Heinz Sobierajski's private homepage , last accessed on October 8, 2011
  8. ↑ Quoted from: Sophienschatz secret files: The greatest art theft of the GDR ( Memento of December 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), documentation by 3sat