Germany ends 100-year legal dispute over imperial art treasures
Thousands of cultural treasures from Germany's former Hohenzollern imperial family will remain on permanent display in museums in Berlin and Brandenburg, the country's new Culture Commssioner Wolfram Weimer announced on Monday.
After a dispute lasting almost 100 years, the descendants of the last German emperor have reached a landmark agreement with the federal government and with states of Berlin and Brandenburg, he added.
"This agreement is a tremendous success for Germany as a cultural location and for the art-loving public," Weimer said in Berlin.
"For a hundred years, there has been ongoing uncertainty about objects that are central to the art and collection history of Prussia and thus to German history as a whole."
The treasures include a portrait of Elector Joachim I of Brandenburg by painter Lucas Cranach the Elder and a table service for the Breslau City Palace acquired by Emperor Frederick II in 1750.
According to the Tagesspiegel newspaper, the agreement covers a total of 27,000 items. Ownership rights and claims have been disputed since 1926.
With the proclamation of the Weimar Republic and the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II, the monarchy in Germany came to an end in 1918. The Hohenzollern family's assets were confiscated.
In 1926, a contract was signed between the then state of Prussia and the Hohenzollerns to settle who owned what. Nevertheless, ambiguity over ownership and restitution claims persisted for decades.
The House of Hohenzollern – currently headed by Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia, great-great-grandson of the last German emperor, Wilhelm II – had asserted claims to thousands of works of art that are now in museums.
The prince had been negotiating with federal and state authorities since 2014, seeking the return of thousands of artworks and financial compensation for expropriated palaces and property. Litigation stalled talks for several years, but in 2023, the lawsuits were resloved, clearing the way for fresh negotiations in autumn 2024.
The objects will remain physically housed in their current locations, including the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation Berlin-Brandenburg (SPSG), the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), and the German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin. Public access to the artworks will continue.
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