Overview
- The skull was recovered after its theft from the Basilica of St. Lawrence and St. Zdislava in Jablonné v Podještědí on May 12.
- Police say the 35-year-old detained in Mladá Boleslav confessed to the theft.
- Investigators report he objected to the relic’s public display and planned to sink it in a river.
- Officers said he had already covered the skull in concrete, which experts warn will make restoration difficult.
- Church leaders called the case devastating for pilgrims who venerate St. Zdislava of Lemberk, a 13th-century noblewoman canonised in 1995.