NEWSWEEK
Archaeologists have uncovered several 500-year-old gold coins during excavations at the ruins of a medieval monastery in Germany.
The discovery was made in the former Himmelpforten monastery near the town of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt state, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.
Wernigerode is renowned for its well-preserved historic center, with its colorful medieval buildings, as well as its 12th-century castle.
In total, researchers identified four gold coins in the monastery ruins that would have been very valuable.
Archaeologists think that the coins, some of which are heavily worn, may have been hastily hidden by monks when the monastery was stormed by rebellious farmers in 1525.
“The gold coins were of great value, and the small fortune was probably hidden by a monk in an acutely dangerous situation,” project manager and archaeologist Felix Biermann of the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology told the DPA. “The whole thing did not end well because the coins could not be recovered.”
The artifacts are known as guilders—the name of several gold coins used during the Holy Roman Empire. The HRE was a political entity spanning western, central and southern Europe that lasted for around 1,000 years from the tail end of the first millennium until its dissolution in 1806.
