The painting Murder of the Nuns in Most

10.11.2016 - 31.12.2017

Murder of the Nuns in Most / Zahražanský Miracle

originally known by the German title Ermorderung der Nonnen in Saras / Murder of the Nuns at Zahražany or Überfalls der Hussiten auf das Brüxer Nonnenkloster / Attack on the Most Women’s Monastery by the Hussites.

Author unknown.

The main, although not immediately apparent, motive of the painting is the legend of the miraculous Zahražanská Madonna.
In the foreground of the painting, the Hussites are plundering the Zahražany monastery and killing the Magdalens. One of the Hussites, armed, is raising his weapon towards the statue of the Zahražanská Madonna. As Jan Sartorius writes in his Marian atlas: “the holy statue tilted its upper body a good foot to the left, while the Child Jesus also placed a finger on his lips, as if warning that villain; in this position, both holy figures can still be seen today.” In the background, a view of the city of Most and fleeing Magdalens.

It is possible that the painting was part of the chapel since the end of the 17th century; in any case, it was located in the Zahražanská chapel at least since the end of the 18th century, when the Magdalens' monastery in Most was abolished. The painting remained in Zahražany until September 4, 1889, when the administrator and owner of the chapel, retired district governor Antonin Jauris, donated it to the newly established city museum (1888). It was recorded under inventory number 25 until August 1921. At that time, museum staff secretly exported it along with the panel painting of the Battle of Most from the end of the 16th century out of Czechoslovakia. The reason was the fear of the German representatives of the city of Most regarding the confiscation of paintings that played a significant role in the celebrations of the Feast of Our Lady of the Snows (August 5 – German: Mariaschneefest), the savior of the city from the Hussites. In 1921, the city celebrated the 500th anniversary of the defeat of the Hussites at Most, and the city officials were concerned that Czechoslovak authorities would obstruct the jubilee celebration of this event by confiscating both paintings. Thus, museum employees took advantage of the transport of the estate of Ulrice von Levetzow to the Goethe Museum in Weimar (Goethe Nationalmuseum) and added the paintings to this estate. The plan was to get the paintings to Meissen and place them either in the Meissen Cathedral or in Albrechtsburg Castle. However, for political reasons, the paintings only reached Meissen in 1932, where they were placed in the newly established Meissen City Museum (Stadtmuseum Meißen) from 1934. The painting was deposited there until 2016. We do not know why it did not return together with the panel painting of the Battle of Most back in 1939. In 1947, it was restored by Otto Schulz. In 1966, the painting is mentioned for the last time in connection with its transport from Most, but the panel painting is already referred to as lost during the war (returned to Most in 1939, part of the collection of the Regional Museum in Most). In Meissen, the painting was supposedly rediscovered in 1984 by art historian Hans Sonntag during the inventory of the collection. In 1966, the painting was identified by a Slovak student of restoration at the Dresden Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Svetlana Obušeková. She also restored it again in 1988. In 2009, the city of Most was alerted to the painting again by Dr. Hans Sonntag, this time as a private individual. The city of Most then expressed interest in the painting in 2013. After archival research on the origin of the painting, conducted by the City Museum in Meissen in cooperation with the Goethe Museum in Weimar, its Most origin was proven. After successful negotiations between representatives of both cities, the painting was ceremoniously returned to the ownership of the city of Most on January 13, 2016.