Theft of medieval art from Quedlinburg

The Cathedral Treasury Quedlinburg is one belonging to the Collegiate Church of St. Servatius in Quedlinburg construction, which connects the north and south of the chancel. In the Middle Ages, the northern part was the so-called jitter of the Quedlinburg ladies pin. The southern room was set up as an exhibition space until the early 1990s. In the two chambers of the Quedlinburg Cathedral is issued. This is one of the most important treasures of Germany. His rank takes the Cathedral because of its great historical significance a, since a large part of the treasure parts arrived as gifts of the Ottonian dynasty to the convent.

History of the Cathedral Treasury

Origin

Large parts of the cathedral treasury were donated to the Quedlinburg convent of the Ottos. In the early Middle Ages, a precious relics equipment was a sign of greatness and power of an ecclesiastical institution. The convent, which held, inter alia, Memoria for the Ottonian family, had to be on the basis of familial and political importance richly endowed. Even after the Ottonian period, the pen still received significant donations.

The odyssey of the cathedral treasury

On April 19, 1945 U.S. troops occupied Quedlinburg. All parts of the cathedral treasury in 1943 had been relocated in a cave under the Altenburg. The guarding the cave now took over, among others, U.S. Lieutenant Joe Tom Meador (* June 30, 1916, † 1 February 1980). This art history versed soldier recognized the importance of the treasure in his area of ​​responsibility. He was able to send twelve selected pieces ( Samuhel Gospels, Wiperti - Gospel Lectionary, Heinrich Shrine and nine smaller pieces as reliquary crosses ) by Field Post by Whitewright, Texas. Meador died in 1980, his heirs tried the looted art on the international art market to sell. After a long legal struggle, and finally a comparison of the pieces turned ten in 1992 returned to Germany. The art researchers Willi Korte was thereto significantly involved. They were first studied and exhibited in Munich and Berlin, before they came back in 1993 in the Romanesque Collegiate Church of St. Servatius. There the famous Cathedral since 19 September 1993 back to visit almost completely. However, two pieces of loot ( a rock crystal bottle and a reliquary cross ) are also missing.

Cathedral pieces

The most important pieces are the precious Servatiusreliquiar Cathedral, the Henry Kamm, the Samuhelevangeliar, the Heinrichsreliquiar and Wiperti - Gospel Lectionary.

The Servatiusreliquiar consists of an ivory box, which is decorated with gold filigree work. The ivory case was most probably at the court of Charles the Bald in the West Frankish Empire around the year 870, and shows Jesus in conversation with 11 of his Apostles ( Judas was omitted ). This scene takes place under round arches, above which are in small niches, the Babylonian ( and valid today in Europe) zodiac signs are displayed. The gold mountings were installed around 1200, probably in the order of the Quedlinburg abbess Agnes II of Meissen, which was also the Quedlinburg Rug in order. The front is adorned with an amethyst in the form of the head of St. Dennis, a work from the end of the 1st century.

The Heinrich comb is a comb crafted from ivory jewelry ( 7th or 8th century, Syria or Egypt). Ornaments of gold elements (9th - 10th century) represent two oppositely facing horses necks, the horses' heads have not survived.

The Wipertievangelistar written a manuscript of 1513 with black ink and with golden jewelery ornaments. It is named after the former storage place in the former Wipertikloster.

The Samuhel Gospels, named after its leading scorer Samuhel, is composed of 191 parchment pages magnificent manuscript Carolingian book art with gold ink. The deluxe binding of 1225/1230 of gold has mounts for gems and a total of nine cells enamels. The cover shows the center beneath depictions of Mary and the two patrons of the church Servatius and Dionysus.

The Äbtissinnenstab and stole two Servatius relics, but probably not true, because the pieces are assigned to the 10th century, during Servatius already 384 died.

Probably the Easter festival in the year 1000, the Otto - Adelheid Gospels was Otto III. first used. The Latin alphabet has been provided with a golden cover, the middle four ivory carvings adorn, scenes from the life of Jesus represent (birth, baptism, crucifixion, Deposition from the Cross ).

The reliquary of Henry I was born at the same time as the fine binding of Samuhel Gospels, about the year 1230. The cover and the pages are decorated with ivory carvings from the 10th century, during which the twelve seated apostles were made ​​on the front and back of walrus tusk ( 11th century ).

Full waive decorative details, such as precious stones or ivory, the shrine of St. Catherine 1230/1240, the complete gold trim is a high level artistic skills.

The oldest, the Kana - jug from the 1st century dar. The pitcher made ​​of alabaster has come as a relic by Otto I to Quedlinburg and recalls the biblical story of the wedding at Cana. Otto I had several similar pieces, which he distributed to the places Magdeburg, Hildesheim and Cologne. One of these pitchers has been preserved in St. Ursula in Cologne.

Components of the Quedlinburg Cathedral Treasury are also the Coat of Arms Case ( 1210 ), reliquaries, Agnus Dei capsules, rock crystal perfume bottles, reliquary crosses, two Korporalienkästchen, a Madonna crown, a sculpture of St. Lawrence, a panel relics and other pieces.

Discovery of the Itala fragments

The fragments of the manuscript of the Quedlinburg Itala are the remains of an allegedly for Pope Damasus I ( 366-384 ) -made splendor Bible. The text contains one of the oldest evidence of a Latin text of the Bible in front of the Vulgate of Jerome ( 347-419 ).

The first two pages discovered in 1865, archivist and historian George Adalbert of Mülverstedt ( 1825-1914 ) and covers a list of Quedlinburg parish names of 1617 / 18th Four years later, in 1869, was mayor Gustav Brecht ( 1830-1905 ) two more pages, which were glued to the inside covers of Quedlinburg police regulations of the 17th century. 1888 discovered the archivist Adalbert Düning the fifth and sixth fragments of a page as a cover of a register from 1619 to 1926. All sides of the bookbinder Asmus Reitel had used in the 17th century as a binding material. Despite an intensive search, it stayed at the five sites, and the fragment of a sixth page of the Quedlinburg Itala. Today, the fragments between Quedlinburg and Berlin are divided: one side is found in the treasury of St. Servatius Church on the Quedlinburg Castle Hill, four sheets are located in the Berlin State Library ( Sig Ms. theol lat fol 485. . ).

The Cathedral in the media

ZDF produced for the series Hunters of lost treasures and under the title of the Century robbery of Quedlinburg, a documentary about Willi Korte, and the time of the first references to the Samuhel Gospels up to the opening of the vaults in the First National Bank and the associated certainty to have recovered a large part of the pieces of Quedlinburg. Likewise, the role of the various auction houses is illuminated. The 45 -minute documentary was aired for the first time on August 12, 2007.

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