Goethe8217;s skull surfaces

The body of Goethe, one of the greatest figures of German history, was exhumed from his grave in a covert and outlandish operation by East German scientists in 1970, nearly 140 years after his death, it has been revealed. The corpse of the eminent poet was carted off from his grave to a nearby museum in a nocturnal operation where the scientists worked on its preservation for three weeks, and then returned the remains to the prince8217;s crypt in the city of Weimar in the state of Thuringia, according to a report. Details of the extraordinary exhumation carried out at night on November 2, 1970 by the former Communist state are contained in a file with an appendix of photographs that had lain unnoticed in Weimar8217;s National Goethe Museum for the past 29 years. Reports of Goethe8217;s return from grave was carried in a German newspaper which printed photographs in yesterday8217;s editions apparently taken in 1970, of Goethe8217;s vacated stone coffin besides a detailed account of the scientists8217; findings drawn from their8220;report concerning the inspection, removal, maceration and return of Goethe8217;s mortal remains in November 1970.8221; An official at the Weimar Classics Foundation Reiner Schlichting said that the operation amounted to a 8220;routine check-up by scientists.8221;

Goethe8217;s bones had been strengthened and his sarcophagus given a new lining 8220;but nothing else was changed,8221; according to Schlichting.

The revelation comes at a sensitive time when Weimar has just embarked on a series of celebrations and performances to mark the 250th birth anniversary of Goethe and the city8217;s selection by European Union culture ministers as Europe8217;s Cultural Capital8217; for 1999. It is the first city in the former Soviet bloc to be honoured in this way.

Goethe, whose most famous work Faust tells of one man8217;s pact with devil, has lain since his death in 1832 in a crypt that also contains the corpse of the great poet and playwright Friedrick Schiller, who died in 1805. According to the scientists8217; report, seven people including the formerrector of Jena University, and a director of the Museum of Early History in Weimar, carried out the work on Goethe8217;s corpse. They loaded his body on to a cart as night fell on November 2, 1970 and pulled the contraption to the Goethe8217;s Museum for treatment with various chemicals.