On October 3, some 70 objects in the Pergamon Museum, the Neues Museum, the Alte National Galerie, all located on Berlin's Museum Island, were doused with an oily liquid that left visible stains on Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and 19th century paintings.
The attack, which has shocked the German cultural world, took place on Unity Day, which commemorates the historic unification that the country experienced in 1990. The act of vandalism was concealed by the managers of the museum island and also by the police, but the attack was known last Tuesday, when three German media revealed that the Berlin State Criminal Investigation Office (LKA) was looking for witnesses among the visitors who came to that area that day.
"It is the greatest damage caused in these museums by a single attack," said the vice president of the complex, Christina Haak, at a press conference on Wednesday.
Haak has not quantified the damages, but has assured that the property of the pieces belongs to the State and that they are not insured, reports Reuters.
The investigation has not yet been able to establish an authorship and the museum managers believe that the damaged objects have no connection between them.
Nor have any messages or any kind of claim been found.
A silent visit to Berlin's museum island
Chipperfield opens entry to Museum Island
The police estimate that some 3,000 people visited the esplanade where the museums are that day and that 1,400 had tickets purchased
online
.
He sent all of them an email with a questionnaire.
The researchers wanted to know if during their stay in the museums they could see any suspicious person, if they could recognize them in photographs and if they had noticed any traces in the form of stains on the exhibits or on the floor.
"We have been working for some time and until now we have not made it public due to the demands of the investigation," said an LKA spokesman.
Police believe that the person responsible for the attack, who was not recorded by security cameras, used a squirt gun or spray dispenser.
This attack is the second serious incident on Museum Island in recent years.
In March 2017 three masked men robbed the Bode Museum currency
large maple leaf
(Big Maple Leaf in English), valued at 3.75 million euros.
In February this year, brothers Wayci and Ahmed Remmo were found guilty and sentenced to four years and six months in prison.
Museum caretaker Denis W. was sentenced to three years and four months, but police could never find the famous coin and it is suspected that it was melted.
Although the security forces are still silent on the vandalism attack, the
Bild
and
Tagesspiegel
newspapers
set their sights on Attila Hildmann, a vegan chef and fan of conspiracy theories.
Of Turkish origin and raised by adoptive parents in Berlin, Hildmann held protests on Museum Island in August and September to denounce that the Pergamon Museum houses the “throne of Satan” and that it is also a temple Secret of the global satanic scene where children are abused and human sacrifices are made.
Hildmann has also attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel, who lives in an apartment across the street from this art center.
The activist refers to the chancellor as "Satanist", "demon" and "Illuminati".
Berlin's museum island has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999. The Pergamon Museum celebrated its 90th birthday in early October this year and is named after its most famous attraction, the Pergamon Altar.
It dates back to the 2nd century BC and was part of the residence of the powerful Pergamon kings, who created a cultural metropolis in western modern Turkey based on the model of Athens.
Situated between the two arms of the Spree, the esplanade also includes the Altes Museum, the Bode-Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie, the Neues Museum - which is home to the famous Egyptian bust of Nefertiti - and the James Simon Gallery.