德国哥特式教堂修复者发现雕像腿部藏有近400年的“巨额财富”

这些宝藏是四袋 1600 年代的硬币，很可能是在三十年战争期间被隐藏的，当时瑞典士兵经常掠夺该地区。

Restorers at a famous Gothic church in Germany have discovered a "huge fortune" that was hidden in the leg of a statue nearly 400 years ago.

德国一座著名哥特式教堂的修复人员发现了近400年前隐藏在雕像腿中的“巨额财富”。

The treasure — four bags of coins from the 1600s — was likely concealed during the Thirty Years' War, when Swedish soldiers frequently plundered the region.

这些宝藏是四袋 1600 年代的硬币，很可能是在三十年战争期间被藏起来的，当时瑞典士兵经常掠夺该地区。

The discovery is an "incredible story," Ulf Dräger, curator and head of department at the State Coin Cabinet of Saxony-Anhalt in Germany, told Live Science in an email. The restorers, who made the find in May 2022 but didn't announce it until November 2024, uncovered the coins at St. Andrew's Church, a Gothic church in Eisleben, a town in the east-central state of Saxony-Anhalt. This church is where Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformer who wrote the "Ninety-five Theses" against corruption in the Roman Catholic Church, delivered his last four sermons in 1546.

德国萨克森-安哈尔特州国家钱币内阁馆长兼部门负责人乌尔夫·德尔格（Ulf Dräger）在一封电子邮件中告诉《生活科学》，这一发现是一个“令人难以置信的故事”。修复者于 2022 年 5 月发现了这一发现，但直到 2024 年 11 月才宣布，他们在圣安德鲁教堂发现了这些硬币，这是位于萨克森-安哈尔特州中东部小镇艾斯莱本的一座哥特式教堂。这座教堂是撰写反对罗马天主教会腐败的“九十五条论纲”的新教改革家马丁·路德于 1546 年发表最后四次布道的地方。

Around 100 years later, in about 1640, someone used the church as a safe haven to hide their stash. They put the four "bulging purses" holding 816 coins into a cavity in a leg of a sandstone statue, which is part of an epitaph for a countess and count, Dräger said.

大约 100 年后，即 1640 年左右，有人利用这座教堂作为藏匿财物的避风港。德尔格说，他们将装有 816 枚硬币的四个“鼓鼓的钱包”放入砂岩雕像腿的空腔中，该雕像是一位伯爵夫人墓志铭的一部分。

"It is nothing short of a miracle that the treasure did not come to light sooner," he added. It will take time for coin experts to assess the hoard's value, but "at the moment, I can only say that it is a huge fortune. Much more than a craftsman could earn in a year," he noted.

“宝藏没有更早被发现，这简直就是一个奇迹，”他补充道。钱币专家需要时间来评估这批宝藏的价值，但“目前，我只能说这是一笔巨额财富。远远超过了工匠一年的收入，”他指出。

The most valuable gold coins were wrapped in paper and labeled in a way that indicates the money belonged to the church treasury. "However, it is not the bell pouch for the Sunday collection," Dräger said. "Instead, it is the collected income from special services provided by the pastors," such as weddings, baptisms and funerals. Pastors also collected money from "chair fees," in which congregants would pay to sit in prominent seats in the church, he added.

最有价值的金币用纸包裹，并贴上标签，表明这些钱属于教堂金库。 “然而，这不是周日系列的钟形袋，”德尔格说。 “相反，它是从牧师提供的特殊服务中收取的收入”，例如婚礼、洗礼和葬礼。他补充说，牧师们还从“椅子费”中收取费用，即会众付费坐在教堂的显眼座位上。

The stash includes a gold coin known as a "golden angel"; gold ducats and double ducats; silver coins known as thalers, half-thalers and quarter-thalers; and hundreds of pennies.

藏品中包括一枚被称为“金色天使”的金币；金达克特和双达克特；称为泰勒、半泰勒和四分之一泰勒的银币；和数百便士。

The hoard was hidden during the Thirty Years' War (1618 to 1648), a series of wars that started with the Holy Roman emperor imposing religious control over his realm and later involving political, territorial and commercial conflicts in neighboring areas of Europe. During this conflict, Swedish soldiers plundered Saxony-Anhalt, including Eisleben, sometimes weekly. Locals were forced to quarter and feed Swedish troops and pay them vast sums of money. "Eisleben lost around half of its population between 1628 and 1650," Dräger said. "[It was] a picture of constant war horror."

该宝藏在三十年战争（1618 年至 1648 年）期间被隐藏，这是一系列战争，始于神圣罗马皇帝对其领土实施宗教控制，后来涉及欧洲邻近地区的政治、领土和商业冲突。在这场冲突中，瑞典士兵有时每周都会掠夺萨克森-安哈特州，包括艾斯莱本。当地人被迫为瑞典军队提供营舍和伙食，并向他们支付巨额金钱。 “1628 年至 1650 年间，艾斯莱本失去了大约一半的人口，”德尔格说。 “[这是]一幅持续的战争恐怖画面。”

To put the treasure into context, a successful 17th-century miner in the region earned about 1 thaler, or 24 pennies, every week, Dräger said. One pound (0.45 kilograms) of butter cost about 3 pennies, and two herrings cost two pennies. In addition to the gold and silver coins, the treasure contains about 800 pennies.

德尔格表示，为了了解这些宝藏的具体情况，该地区一名 17 世纪的成功矿工每周赚取约 1 泰勒（24 便士）。一磅（0.45 公斤）黄油大约需要 3 便士，两条鲱鱼则需要 2 便士。宝藏中除金银币外，还含有约800文钱。

The loss of this hoard was likely a tragedy at the time, Dräger said. "This makes the find a highly significant historical and real testimony, not only for Eisleben, but also for the history of the state of Saxony-Anhalt in the heart of Europe," he said.

德尔格说，这些宝藏的丢失在当时可能是一场悲剧。他说：“这使得这一发现成为非常重要的历史和真实见证，不仅对于艾斯莱本，而且对于欧洲中心的萨克森-安哈尔特州的历史也是如此。”

Historians know that from 1561, Eisleben had an "Aerarium Pastorale" — a common parish fund that was used as a pension and health fund, as social insurance for pastors, and to promote the training of theologians. "Perhaps we now have this fund before us," Dräger said. "Historical research will show this."

历史学家知道，从 1561 年起，艾斯莱本就有了一个“Aerarium Pastorale”——一种公共教区基金，用作养老金和医疗基金、牧师的社会保险以及促进神学家的培训。 “也许我们现在已经有了这笔基金，”德尔格说。 “历史研究将证明这一点。”

Researchers now plan to study each coin individually and document their finds online and at the Moritzburg Art Museum in Halle. They will also present their findings at St. Andrew's Church.

研究人员现在计划单独研究每枚硬币，并在网上和哈雷莫里茨堡艺术博物馆记录他们的发现。他们还将在圣安德鲁教堂展示他们的发现。

"It is a stroke of luck that the Lutherstadt Eisleben Protestant Parish Association has decided to lend the coins to the museum to enable research to be carried out," Dräger said.

德尔格表示：“路德施塔特·艾斯莱本新教教区协会决定将这些硬币借给博物馆，以便开展研究，这真是一件幸运的事情。”