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Conservators in the Virginia Department of Historic Resources: The 130-year-old time capsule finally found
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Sarah Rankin / AP
A second time capsule has been discovered in the base of a statue of Southern General Robert E. Lee in the US state of Virginia. This is what Governor Ralph Northam wrote on Twitter. "This is probably the time capsule everyone was looking for," he tweeted on Tuesday morning German time. And indeed: that evening conservators opened the box found in Richmond. They found books, money, ammunition, documents and other artifacts.
A newspaper article from 1887 had put historians on the trail of the time capsule;
Among other things, relics from the Civil War such as buttons and balls, Confederate currency, maps, a Bible and a picture of the murdered President Abraham Lincoln in his coffin should be included according to the old report.
It looks like it's the expected box, said senior curator of the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Kate Ridgway.
A first find last week had puzzled historians.
In the first time capsule only books, a photograph and a coin were found.
Apparently workers involved in erecting the statue had bricked the box into the base.
Damaged, but partially legible
The contents of the second capsule should now match the description from 1887, said Ridgway.
Instead of the picture of Lincoln in the coffin, the conservators found a printed picture from a magazine issue that appeared to show a grieving figure at Lincoln's grave.
Some papers have been damaged by water and time, but are at least partially legible.
The equestrian statue was erected in 1890 in Richmond, the former capital of the southern states.
Lee had led the Confederate Army in the American Civil War.
During the conflict in the 1860s, the then largely agricultural southern states split off from the USA and ultimately fought unsuccessfully to maintain slavery.
In September the statue was removed after protests.
The monument in Richmond, like a comparable statue in Charlottesville that was dismantled months ago, was the focus of protests after the death of George Floyd.
hba / AP / AFP