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In 1984, an American comes to the Czech embassy in Vienna with an enigmatic offer:
$250,000
in exchange for excavating and recovering an artifact that "no one claims
or misses
in Czechoslovakia."
The request is too vague, the sum too high.
The alarms of the Czech secret services are triggered.
What follows is an investigation that the following year concludes with an astonishing discovery: under a small chapel in Becov Palace, an hour and a half drive from Prague, an impressive
collection of bottles of French wines and cognacs appears,
and a mysterious wooden trunk containing a priceless treasure: the
reliquary of Saint Maurus
, whose whereabouts have been unknown
for 40 years
.
Alena Svehlova,
guide and housekeeper
of this palace in Western Bohemia, knows all the details of the find.
"The reliquary is invaluable. After the coronation jewels, it is the second most valuable artifact in the Czech Republic," he explains as he unravels this story, turn by turn, accompanying the visitor through the aristocratic rooms of this Renaissance palace that the
family of the Beaufort-Spontins
acquired in the eighteenth century.
Alena Svehlova, guide and housekeeper at the entrance of the palace.MGH
Arriving at the treasure chamber, Alena pulls out a bunch of keys.
She opens the first door and closes it.
A second and she does the same once she has let the visitor through.
"No photos are taken and the phone must be
in airplane mode
," she repeats severely several times in Czech, as the translator repeats.
Once inside, this masterpiece of medieval goldsmithing finally appears.
Suddenly, the traveler understands all the intrigues of this
historical
thriller style
The Da Vinci Code
in its Czech version that unexpectedly hides this corner in the center of Europe.
In the dark, to guarantee the conservation of the piece, with
Gregorian chants
as background music and the hair on end of all those present, Alena finishes putting together the story:
"Alfred Beaufort, owner of the palace and passionate about Romanesque, discovers the reliquary in 1838 in the
Benedictine monastery of Florennes
, Belgium, and acquires it for
2,500 francs.
It contains no less than
the remains of four saints
: Saint Maurus, Saint Timothy, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Apollinaris".
A moment of the visit to Becov.MGH
Only three Romanesque reliquaries in this form of coffin are known to have survived in Europe.
This is the "the only one that is not owned by the Church, but by the Czech national heritage", the guide points out.
At
140 centimeters long,
42 wide and about 65 tall, the Czech jewel is a blaze of
precious stones
, gems, filigree decorations, and gold-plated silver and copper reliefs showing Jesus Christ and Saint Maurus in the headers and the twelve apostles on the sides.
After its purchase, Beaufort exhibited it briefly at the 1885
Universal Exhibition ,
but three years later he moved it to Becov, one of the family residences very close, by the way, to the seaside resort of Karlovy Vary.
Germany's allies
Things get complicated for the Beaufort family after World War II as Heinrich Beaufort, Alfred's grandson, is accused of
collaborating with the Nazis and expelled from the country
.
AERIAL VIEW OF THE PALACE.SHUTTERSTOCK
Researchers estimate that around 1945, this Beaufort
buried the reliquary under the
palace chapel with the idea of one day being able to return for it.
"Contrary to what he planned, Heinrich does not set foot on Czech soil again for the next four decades," says Alena.
He will be the one to send the American emissary, a certain Danny Douglas, to try to recover the treasure.
But during the year that the negotiations with Douglas last, the Czech secret services do not stop searching on their own.
The investigations lead to Becov.
When they have been digging for days, a morning of bad weather dawns, which leads them to try their luck in the chapel.
Bingo.
Restoration
The reliquary of Saint Maurus was for years in a bank safe where the humidity almost ruined it.
In the 1990s, international experts and the Museum of Applied Arts in Prague embarked on a ten-year effort to recover it.
In 2002 he returns to Becov.
According to Alena, the palace is in contact with the descendants of the Beauforts who now live in Austria and "they are happy that the treasure is exhibited and shown" in their former palace.
-And what happened to that
collection of wines
?
-A large part of those 150 bottles is still here.
It is the liquid treasure of Becov, but unfortunately we can
neither see nor taste
it .
PRACTICAL GUIDE
HOW TO GET.
Companies such as Iberia (www.iberia.com) fly direct to Prague.
Beov nad Teploul Palace is now one and a half drive from the Czech capital.
WHERE TO SLEEP.
At the iconic
Grandhotel Pupp
(www.pupp.cz) in Karlovy Vary.
Luxury, famous guests and more than three centuries of history just a few meters from the thermal colonnades.
From 150 euros.
Also at the
Ensana Nové Lázne
(ensanahotels.com) with all kinds of thermal treatments and Roman baths.
From 130 euros.
MORE INFORMATION.
On the Czech Tourism website www.visitczechrepublic.com and on the Beov nad Teploul Palace website (in English) www.zamek-becov.cz/en.
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