Missing angels returned to church after 13 years
A pair of angels that were stolen from a parish church in Voitsberg, Styria in 2002 have finally been returned after 13 years.
The missing angels turned up when police searched a house full of stolen goods in Vienna in 2012. They were finally returned 'home' to the church last Sunday, in time for mass.
In August 2002, a church-goer in Voitsberg noticed that two angels were missing from an altar in the parish church.
They were listed in a European database for stolen art goods - but seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
Police finally found them in 2012 when they searched an apartment in Vienna that was used to store stolen goods - including hundreds of angel statues. Both angels had suffered some damage and were missing their wings.
But it has taken two years to return them to the church as the Diocese of Graz-Seckau had to prove that the pair of angels were the ones that had gone missing from Voitsberg.
A judge in Vienna finally ruled that photographic evidence proved the angels did belong to the parish. The Diocese is now applying for a grant to repair the angels and restore their wings.
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The missing angels turned up when police searched a house full of stolen goods in Vienna in 2012. They were finally returned 'home' to the church last Sunday, in time for mass.
In August 2002, a church-goer in Voitsberg noticed that two angels were missing from an altar in the parish church.
They were listed in a European database for stolen art goods - but seemed to have disappeared without a trace.
Police finally found them in 2012 when they searched an apartment in Vienna that was used to store stolen goods - including hundreds of angel statues. Both angels had suffered some damage and were missing their wings.
But it has taken two years to return them to the church as the Diocese of Graz-Seckau had to prove that the pair of angels were the ones that had gone missing from Voitsberg.
A judge in Vienna finally ruled that photographic evidence proved the angels did belong to the parish. The Diocese is now applying for a grant to repair the angels and restore their wings.
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