Two hundred and ten gold-colored statues of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned Austrian composer, have been stolen from an exhibition in his birthplace, Salzburg. The incident occurred during an exhibition marking the 270th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday, August 12, that the Mozart Foundation had put 320 small statues depicting Mozart and his beloved dog, “Pimperl,” on display at the composer’s former residence and several other locations on July 15.
According to the report, more than 80 statues from the collection were stolen in less than two weeks, with the number of missing pieces rising to 210 by Wednesday. Organizers had a number of additional statues available to replace the stolen pieces, but the supply was insufficient to replace all of the missing works.
Moreover, due to the sculptor’s summer holiday, it was not immediately possible to produce new statues to replace those that had been stolen. As a result, organizers were unable to replace all of the missing works.
Ottmar Hörl, the German artist who created the statues, said he did not believe visitors had simply taken the artworks with them. He described the incident as an “organized theft.”
However, the motive behind the theft and how 210 statues were removed from the exhibition site remain unclear. No further information has been released about the possible perpetrators.
Writer:Salima Aryaei
