A historic Chinese monk sculpture that disappeared from Kassel's Wilhelmshöhe Mountain Park decades ago has finally returned home after 50 years, thanks to a generous donation from a local couple who had been caring for the headless statue in their private garden. The sculpture, which dates back to the early 18th century, was officially returned to Hessen Kassel Heritage on Monday afternoon at its new location on Mulangstraße in the mountain park.
Roswitha and Klaus-Eberhard Becker had housed the damaged sculpture in their Brasselsberg neighborhood garden since 2004, after inheriting it from their deceased neighbors' children. "She has become beautiful. We will definitely come by often to visit her," said 75-year-old Roswitha Becker during the ceremonial return on November 10. The couple stood alongside Justus Lange, the interim director of Hessen Kassel Heritage, Norbert Arnold, head of monument preservation, and restoration expert Tobias Sperber from the Bamberg-based Bauer-Bornemann stone restoration company.
The sculpture's journey to the Becker family began in a touching way. After their best friends and neighbors passed away, the heirs told the Beckers they could choose something as a memento. Roswitha Becker had always admired the two-piece headless figure that stood in their friends' garden. Moving the heavy sculpture proved challenging, but Becker's background in logistics came in handy. She organized five strong men to manually load the pieces onto a lift truck and transport them to their garden, where her 88-year-old husband Klaus-Eberhard had already prepared a stable concrete base. The couple then reassembled the two parts using adhesive, with Klaus-Eberhard personally wielding the trowel to apply the bonding material.
The Beckers were determined to learn more about their mysterious garden resident's origins. They knew their neighbor had rescued the weathered sculpture from a construction debris container in the 1970s, saving it from destruction. The statue was missing its head and toe tips and showed significant weathering from years of exposure. The couple made several attempts to trace the sculpture's original location and history over the years.
A breakthrough came when Hans-Kurt Boehlke, the founder of the Museum of Sepulchral Culture who died in 2010, examined the sculpture in the Beckers' garden. Boehlke, dressed in his light-colored suit, crawled through the bushes to get a closer look and emerged from under the branches with his assessment: "Bottom line, 200 years old." This evaluation spurred the couple to make the decision to place the sculpture permanently in respectful and appreciative hands.
Working together with monument preservation specialists and provenance researchers from Hessen Kassel Heritage, officials were able to determine that the sculpture had stood in the "Valley of Flora" below the Weißenstein wing until the early 18th century. According to spokesperson Lena Pralle, the Chinese monk fell victim to the transformation of the baroque park into a romantic landscape garden during that period.
The decisive clue about the figure's origin came from a colleague in April 2023, who discovered a relevant text passage, according to Norbert Arnold. Additionally, two black-and-white photographs from 1907 surfaced, showing the sculpture in its original condition – complete with its head. These historical images proved invaluable for the restoration process.
Restoration expert Tobias Sperber spent approximately four months working on the Chinese wandering monk, using the 1907 photographs as reference materials. The sculpture now has a reconstructed head and toe tips, and Sperber discovered that the monk originally carried a pilgrim's staff. "The work was enjoyable from start to finish," Sperber said during yesterday's small celebration ceremony.
Interestingly, Klaus-Eberhard Becker also helped select the sculpture's new location – a small park area at Mulangstraße 3, separated from the main mountain park only by a street. According to Hessen Kassel Heritage, this location allows the sculpture to fit perfectly with the 19th-century China fashion represented in that area of the park.
The Becker couple has found a replacement for their Brasselsberg garden. A Buddha figure now rests in the spot once occupied by the Chinese monk – this one, however, comes complete with its head intact, providing a fitting end to this remarkable story of cultural preservation and community spirit.
