Berlin (AFP)

Acts of vandalism against dozens of works of art were perpetrated in early October, over a day, in renowned museums in Berlin, the motivation of their perpetrators remaining unknown, Berlin police said on Wednesday.

The Berlin judicial police are investigating "depredations of works of art and artefacts" exhibited on "Museum Island", a group of five establishments with prestigious collections, one of its spokespersons told AFP, confirming press reports.

The facts date back to October 3, the day celebrating German reunification: "strangers spilled an oily substance in museums during opening hours without anyone knowing yet how they did it", specifies he, promising more details on the case in the next few hours.

According to an investigation published Wednesday in the weekly Die Zeit and broadcast by radio Deutschlandfunk, around 70 objects have been degraded, including Egyptian sarcophagi, stone sculptures and paintings dating from the 19th century.

The substance has left visible stains on these works.

It is "the most important attack on works of art since the end of the last world war", says Die Zeit.

The motivation of its perpetrators remains to be clarified, according to the media, such as whether or not the choice of the day when the acts were committed has a particular meaning.

Berlin's Museum Island, located between two arms of the Spree, the river in the heart of the capital, notably hosts the legendary bust of Nefertiti and the Pergamon High Altar, an ancient religious monument.

The site brings together five museums presenting collections of paintings and sculptures dating from antiquity to the beginnings of modern art.

The complex, very popular with tourists, was classified in 1999 by Unesco as a World Heritage Site.

The conspirator, who is also a figurehead of the "anti-corona" movement (against the restrictive measures taken against the coronavirus) in Germany, Attila Hildmann had attacked in September at the Pergamon museum, the most famous of the lot, claiming that it housed "Satan's throne", the media recall.

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