Stolen 13th Century Saint Skull Recovered

Czech authorities successfully recovered the 13th-century skull of St Zdislava of Lemberk just days after it was stolen from a church in the northern region of the country.

Police arrested a 35-year-old suspect in the city of Mlada Boleslav who confessed to taking the relic from its glass shrine at the basilica of St Lawrence and St Zdislava on Tuesday evening.

According to law enforcement, the man targeted the shrine right before Mass while the church security alarm was deactivated, explicitly praying for the church to be empty so he could carry out the theft.

The suspect, who has no prior criminal record, admitted to investigators that he ideologically objected to the saint’s remains being publicly displayed.

Local police chief Petr Rajt revealed that the man had a meticulous plan to permanently dispose of the relic by encasing it in concrete and throwing it into a river.

Authorities noted that their swift intervention was vital, as the suspect was intercepted just one day before he intended to submerge the artefact, which would have made it nearly impossible to find.

Though the relic was successfully retrieved, the suspect had already coated the skull in a layer of concrete before his arrest.

Consequently, historical preservation experts now face a highly delicate and challenging restoration process to safely clean and salvage the artefact.

The suspect has pleaded guilty, has been formally charged with multiple offences, including theft, and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted in a court of law.