Over 200 Golden Mozart Figurines Stolen from Salzburg Installation

The Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, was forced to close an art event early after 210 of 320 golden Mozart figurines were stolen from an installation celebrating the 270th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth. The handcrafted plastic figurines, each about 50 centimeters tall and depicting Mozart with his dog Pimperl, were placed on a lawn in Mirabell Gardens and inside the Mozarteum, one of Austria's most important cultural institutions. The installation opened on July 15, 2026, but within two weeks, more than 80 figurines had disappeared; by this week, 210 were missing. German artist Ottmar Hörl, who created the figurines, had planned to sell them for around 100 euros each after the exhibition. He expressed disappointment and suggested the theft was an 'organized theft' rather than the work of visitors. The museum had a stock of replacement figurines but not enough to cover the losses, and Hörl was on vacation and unable to produce new ones. This is not the first such incident for Hörl: a previous installation in Bayreuth, Germany, saw 100 figurines of composer Richard Wagner stolen. The event was held at the Mozarteum and Mirabell Gardens in Salzburg, Austria, and was covered by AP photographer Matthias Schrader.