In the first week of February 2023, the Dresden-Meißen diocese reported that the statue of Cyril and Methodius, the Apostles to the Slavs, in Bautzen was vandalised.
Concretely, a bishop's staff in the shape of a cross was broken off and stolen from the monument, which the two saints held together. In addition, part of Methodius' hand was struck off.
"Last week, the responsible criminal service started the investigation for damage to the millennium monument at the exit of Schmochtitz," reported the diocese of Dresden-Meißen.
Previously, in October 2022, a total of four public crosses had been desecrated in the district of Bautzen.