Lost, buried, rescued: Reliquary of St. Maurus and its fascinating history
It is now 40 years since the discovery of the Reliquary of St. Maurus beneath the floor of the castle chapel in Bečov nad Teplou. The most valuable Romanesque work of art in the Czech Republic has a fascinating history.
A story worth filming
The St. Maurus reliquary, dating back to the early 13th century, is one of the Czech Republic’s biggest treasures. The Romanesque shrine, which contains the relics of four saints, is considered to be the second most important historical artefact in the Czech Republic, second only to the crown jewels.
The reliquary was created for Florennes Abbey in Belgium in the first quarter of the 13th century to hold the purported skeletal remains of St. Maurus, St. John the Baptist, and St. Timothy.
Following the dissolution of the monastery, the precious artefact was placed in the local church and was later acquired by Duke Alfred de Beaufort-Spontin.
The Duke had it restored and proudly loaned it to the World Fair at Anvers in 1885. In 1888, the Beauforts moved the reliquary to their castle estate in Bečov, where it remained in private ownership in the family chapel for years.
When the Beauforts were forced to leave Bečov after World War II, for having collaborated with the Nazis, they secretly buried the reliquary under the floor of the chapel, presumably planning to return for it sometime in the future. However the course of history dramatically changed their plans.
For decades, the castle was closed to the public. It was too close to a newly formed military site and indeed to Western Europe.
Then, in 1984, an American businessman by the name of Danny Douglas unexpectedly approached the Czechoslovak authorities via the country’s embassy in Vienna with an offer to pay 250,000 US dollars for the right to excavate and export abroad an unidentified object “which nobody claims or misses in Czechoslovakia”.
The vague request and high sum offered raised suspicions and the communist authorities immediately tasked a special team of investigators to ascertain the nature of this unspecified object.
As talks with Douglas proceeded, the team initiated a huge search operation for the secret artefact. From the fragments of information provided, the team was able to narrow down the investigation to five likely locations –among them Bečov Castle and the surrounding area.
When searching the castle chapel they identified a large metallic object below the floorboards and after tearing them up came upon the St. Maurus reliquary. It was in very poor condition, but there was no doubt of its immense value.
A Romanesque work of art
The core of the reliquary is a wooden chest adorned with gilded silver, copper, and more than 200 gemstones. Its historical value is incalculable, but for insurance purposes, it is estimated at half a billion Czech crowns.
Its most remarkable feature is the set of twelve apostles, beaten in relief from an exceptionally thin sheet of silver only 0.3 mm thick.
The reliquary belongs to the so-called house-shaped (tomb-like) type. It holds relics of St. John the Baptist, St. Maurus, and St. Timothy.
It measures 140 × 42 cm and stands 65 cm tall. During restoration, the original oak core was replaced with new walnut wood.
Its decoration includes twelve reliefs, fourteen gilded silver statuettes, gemstones, semi-precious stones, ancient gems, filigree, and enamel work.
Buried alongside the reliquary was a collection of 136 bottles of archival wine and cognac, about 130 years old.
Eleven years of restoration
The damaged reliquary had to be dismantled into more than 3,000 individual parts. Restoration work took place from 1991 to 2002. The result is a breathtaking monument that visitors can now admire at Bečov Castle. The restored reliquary received the prestigious Europa Nostra award for heritage preservation.
