The Unsolved Attack - Neues Museum
On the Day of German Unity, 3 October 2020, someone walked unnoticed through the Neues Museum, the Pergamonmuseum and the Alte Nationalgalerie and splashed at least 70 ancient sarcophagi, sculptures and paintings with an oily liquid. It was the worst attack on Berlin's state museums since the Second World War, and nobody has ever been charged.
Su questo luogo
The Neues Museum at Bodestrasse 1 to 3 is itself a monument to damage: built by Friedrich August Stüler between 1843 and 1855, bombed in 1943 and 1945, left a ruin for six decades and reopened on 16 October 2009 after David Chipperfield's celebrated reconstruction deliberately kept the bullet holes and bare brick in view. Yet its most unsettling wound is recent. On 3 October 2020, during opening hours on a busy public holiday, an unknown perpetrator moved through three Museum Island buildings and flicked an oily liquid, reportedly olive oil, onto at least 70 objects: Egyptian sarcophagi including that of Queen Ahmose Nefertari here in the Neues Museum, Near Eastern stone sculptures in the Pergamonmuseum and a nineteenth century painting by Jean Delville in the Alte Nationalgalerie. The staff discovered the stains that night, the police were informed on 5 October, and the public learned nothing until Die Zeit and Deutschlandfunk broke the story on 20 October. The Landeskriminalamt found no usable camera footage, emailed visitors who had registered under coronavirus rules, and investigated in all directions, including the Telegram tirades of conspiracy agitator Attila Hildmann, who had spent the summer calling the Pergamon Altar the throne of Satan. Similar oil attacks had hit Wewelsburg castle in July and Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam in September 2020. The works were restored, but no suspect was ever named and the case remains unsolved.
Fatti principali
- 70 damaged artworks — At least 70 objects in the Neues Museum, the Pergamonmuseum and the Alte Nationalgalerie were splashed with an oily liquid on 3 October 2020, the most extensive attack on Berlin's state museums since the Second World War.
- 17 days of silence — The attack was kept from the public for 17 days, until reporters from Die Zeit and Deutschlandfunk broke the story on 20 October 2020. Museums and police called the delay an investigative tactic.
- 0 convictions — Despite an investigation by Berlin's Landeskriminalamt, no perpetrator has ever been identified, charged or convicted. The case remains open to this day.
📍 Bodestraße 1, 10178, Berlin