The Saliera and the forest are not a new combination. However, 18 years ago, in January 2006, she was not wanted. The only surviving goldsmith’s work by the Italian artist Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) was stolen from the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna three years earlier.
The perpetrator got into the museum via scaffolding and took advantage of the weak points in the alarm system.
At first he hid the work of art, which is estimated to be worth around 63.5 million euros, under his bed, then things got too hot for him.
He buried the Saliera in a forest near Zwettl in Lower Austria. His demands for ransom went unheeded and the then 47-year-old was eventually identified, arrested and sentenced to four years in prison. Almost two decades later, Saliera is hidden in the forest again – this time in the Salzkammergut.
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Image: KHM
Source: Nachrichten
