Partnachklamm Time Capsule: Facsimile of a Cultural Heritage Item

When a museum or institution entrusts a historical document to someone else, it is a leap of faith. This is all the more true when the document is damaged, fragile, and irreplaceable. The case of the time capsule in the Partnach Gorge near Garmisch-Partenkirchen illustrates what is at stake in such a moment—and what a precise facsimile reproduction can achieve.

The Madonna in the Partnach Gorge is classified as a standalone monument. Much about its origins remained a mystery—evidence suggests that it existed even before the gorge was closed off (1910–1912). When the statue was sent for restoration in late 2023, a historic time capsule was discovered inside its pedestal. The time capsule contained 14 coins from the years 1866 and 1899, as well as a handwritten booklet in a brass box.

The coins had weathered the passage of time well; some were even as good as new. The box containing the book, on the other hand, had not been watertight for decades. Moisture had irreparably smudged the ink on most of the pages.

The Bavarian State Library, through its Institute for Conservation and Restoration, undertook the technical restoration of the find under the direction of Dr. Irmhild Ceynowa. The initial goal was to reconstruct lost text elements in order to learn more about the history of the Madonna. This was only partially successful: “The text in places where there is hardly any ink left will likely remain unknown forever,” Ceynowa wrote in her report.

This is a familiar issue for museums, archives, and collections: there is damage that restoration cannot reverse. What remains, then, is the question of how to handle the original — and how to document its current condition and preserve it for the future.

In close consultation with the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and the Bavarian State Library, it was decided not to expose the original artifacts to the moisture in the pedestal again. Instead, faithful replicas will be returned to the time capsule, while the historical pieces will remain professionally packaged in the municipality’s vault.

This decision follows a logic that also applies to museums and archives when dealing with fragile collections. The original is protected and stored under controlled conditions. And a facsimile—a faithful reproduction that is visually indistinguishable from the original—takes on its function in a public or ritual context.

The coins were reproduced by the specialist firm Haber und Brandner in Regensburg. The replica of the parchment book—including the smudged ink, water stains, lime deposits, and greenish discoloration of the parchment—was created by recom art care in Berlin.

A facsimile is more than just a printout. It must reproduce the original’s state of aging—not just its original condition, but precisely the traces left by time and damage. This requires:

Rudi Achtner, who oversaw the restoration for months in his role as gorge manager, describes the result this way: “You can’t tell the difference.” The same feedback was received regarding the coin replicas from Regensburg — their patina and slight soiling match the original.

The reproduced objects were not simply placed back in their original locations, but were embedded in a new, technically redesigned setting. The collection was expanded to include reports on the restoration of the Madonna and the history of the time capsule, current information about the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and a complete set of euro coins. The new capsule itself is a hexagonal box made of V4A stainless steel with a special lock, manufactured by the Glasl company in Mittenwald—designed to prevent any future water ingress.

On May 8, 2026, it was returned to the Madonna’s pedestal in the presence of Mayor Daniel Schimmer and numerous attendees, accompanied by a musical performance by trumpeter Alexander Kaufmann. The total cost for all the replicas amounted to 8,500 euros—the Bavarian State Library was so impressed by the quality of the work that it waived the invoice.

The handling of the Partnachklamm time capsule is a small but illustrative example of a question that many institutions face: How do you preserve an original whose condition can no longer be reversed—and how do you simultaneously ensure that it remains visible, usable, or, in the case of the time capsule, can be returned to its historical location without risking further damage?

The solution here was a combination of a decision reached through expert consultation — involving historic preservation, the State Library, and the municipality — and a reproduction precise enough to support that decision. For museums, archives, and collections with similar holdings, this is a model that can be applied: protect originals where restoration reaches its limits, and use facsimiles where an object is intended to continue fulfilling its function.

Here you’ll find a press article from the Merkur about the Partnachklamm time capsule and the video in the ARD media library, which is also embedded below.

Do you manage an archive, a collection, or an estate with holdings that require faithful reproductions?

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