Theft in the Cathedral of Wiener Neustadt

Case information
Incident date
Country
Austria
Place
Wiener Neustadt
Categories
  • Social Hostility / Intolerance
Attack Against
  • Faith
Hate Crime & Violent Incidents
  • Theft
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Significance of Property/Structure/Location to religious community
Reported to Police
  • Yes
Response of Local Authorities
  • Investigated
Image credit: Bwag / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

On the first day that the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown was lifted, unknown perpetrators gained access to the Cathedral of Wiener Neustadt on May 15th. They stole a statue known as the "Prager Jesulein," a Jesus statue with a golden crown from 1750, from the Trinity Altar. They then went on to the Mariazeller Altar on the opposite side and stole two crowns from a statue of Mary and Jesus. Both statues were placed inside of glass showcases. The theft did not cause much monetary loss, as the crowns were cheap replicas, but rather a cultural loss. This was not the first theft the church had to endure.

Sources