Austrian authorities seek 21 works allegedly stolen by priest

The town of Kremsmunster, Austria, is not used to being talked about.

But everything has changed since the Benedictine abbey of the city of 6,000 inhabitants was the subject of an open investigation for disappearance of historic cultural property.

According to

, the theft, which was made public last May and has yet to be elucidated, is making headlines in the Austrian press.

On January 26, the public prosecutor's office and the federal criminal police released images of the 21 pieces in the abbey's collection which remain untraceable.

It all starts in May 2020. During a routine inventory, the curator of the abbey's collection discovers that 50 objects have disappeared - three 17th century firearms and 47 paintings.

According to prosecutor Andreas Pechatschek, the main suspect is a former priest of the monastery, who has been under investigation since August 2020. According to Austrian media, the man was responsible for watching over the collection between 1997 and 2017 But he was not allowed to sell or even lend the collection, which consists of around 2,200 paintings, 70 icons, 2,000 copper engravings and other remains from the early Middle Ages - the abbey dating from the 'year 777.

According to explanations given by the prosecutor's office to

, 20 items have been recovered from vendors and private collections in Austria since the theft was revealed.

The police report estimates all the works and remains stolen at 300,000 euros.

Among the missing objects, a work by the Baroque painter Philipp Peter Roos, a small canvas by the German painter Johann Wilhelm Bauer and an old hourglass.

According to

, the accused loaner is suspected of having sold the parts to compensate for the costs incurred to restore others.

A painting by Johann Wilhelm Bauer, which cannot be found.

Federal Criminal Police Office of Austria

This is not the first theft to occur within the medieval abbey.

His oldest painting,

, signed by the painter Meister von Raigern and dating from around 1415, disappeared in 2006. That same year, a book of astronomical drawings worth around 30,000 euros which was on loan to the abbey disappeared during an exhibition.

According to the

, the CCTV cameras were out of order, and the book was replaced with a fake during the intrusion.