Over 200 Golden Mozart Statuettes Stolen From Salzburg Art Installation
More than 200 golden Mozart figurines have been stolen from a public art installation in Salzburg, Austria, forcing the Mozarteum Foundation to shut down the display at Mirabell Gardens well ahead of schedule.
The installation, titled "Mozart – The Untameable Genius," launched in mid-July across three sites in Salzburg: Mirabell Gardens, Mozart's former residence, and the wooden hut where the composer wrote The Magic Flute. It placed 320 identical plastic statuettes — each about 20 inches tall, depicting Mozart beside his dog Pimperl — across the city's landmarks. Artnet News
The figurines began disappearing almost immediately. By the end of July, over 80 were gone. By August 12, only 110 remained — meaning at least 210 of the 320 statuettes had been taken. Artnet News
The German conceptual artist behind the work, Ottmar Hörl, told the German news agency dpa he believed the theft was organised rather than the work of ordinary visitors pocketing a souvenir. Artnet News
Hörl had planned to sell the statuettes for €90 each once the installation concluded, putting the estimated loss from the thefts at roughly €20,000. The Mozarteum Foundation had hoped to replenish the stolen figures but could not — the manufacturer was on summer holiday. Artnet News
Hörl told the Associated Press he had deliberately avoided a traditional monument. There were already enough of those, he said; he wanted instead to show Mozart's human side. Associated Press
The closure at Mirabell Gardens left only a more widely spaced portion of the display, at Mozart's one-time residence, still open to visitors — and that was due to run only until August 30. Artnet News
This is not the first time Hörl's serial sculptures have vanished en masse. In 2023, his installation "You're Welcome" placed 115 golden Richard Wagner statuettes outside the opera house in Bayreuth, southern Germany — and all of them disappeared. Artnet News
Hörl is a veteran of large-scale public installations using repeated miniature figures. His past projects include 2,000 lions in Munich's Emperor's Courtyard, 400 Goethe statues in Frankfurt, and 60 Greta Thunberg figures at the Schweinfurt Art Gallery. Artnet News
For an artist whose work depends on multiplicity — the same figure repeated across a public space until it becomes a visual rhythm — the thefts carry a particular irony. The installations are designed to be walked among, not guarded behind glass. Whether that openness is sustainable may be a question Hörl and the institutions that host him will have to weigh before the next outing.
