An almost century-long authorized battle over royal property has ended, as Germany’s federal authorities and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg reached a settlement with the descendants of a German noble household over possession of 27,000 artworks, the South China Morning Submit reported Tuesday.
Wolfram Weimer, Germany’s new Minister of State for Tradition, introduced the deal in Berlin on Tuesday, confirming the gathering, which features a portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder and a uncommon 18th-century desk service commissioned by Emperor Frederick II, will stay held in public museums such because the Prussian Cultural Heritage Basis and the German Historic Museum. Weimer known as the dispute’s finish a “success for Germany as a cultural location.”
(Additional particulars of the settlement haven’t been disclosed publicly.)
The dispute dates again to 1926, when a contract between members of the Home of Hohenzollern and the previous state of Prussia aimed to settle possession after the autumn of the German monarchy in 1918. As a result of the Hohenzollern property was confiscated earlier than the settlement, questions over rightful authorized title endured for practically 100 years afterwards.
Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia and great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, had sought restitution of the artifact and monetary compensation since 2014. After lawsuits from the household have been withdrawn in 2023, negotiations over the artwork resumed final fall.
Beneath the settlement, the gadgets will stay open to the general public and can keep of their present collections, targeted on Prussian and German historical past.
