A theft of more than 200 small polymer statues of Mozart disrupted an anniversary tribute in Salzburg, part of Ottmar Hörer’s installation that originally features 320 figures depicting Mozart with his dog.

The exhibition remains open and has been extended to late August, but the missing pieces have left the display noticeably sparser.

Hörer called the loss an organized theft, noting visitors likely did not steal the works personally and linking the incident to past thefts of public art.

The manufacturer was on holiday at the time, complicating immediate replacements, and spare pieces were insufficient to cover the gaps.

Each statue is valued at about $100, for a total loss around $23,000, with the summer factory break hindering production and impacting exhibition planning.

Hörer estimates each sculpture at about 90 euros, underscoring the theft’s impact on viewers and the festival, while noting the works lacked signatures and were easy to identify as stolen; replacements are unlikely while the factory remains on vacation.

The missing statues diminished the exhibit’s visual impact and could not be fully compensated due to the absence of spare pieces and the producer’s unavailability for rapid replacement.

The piece closes with a reflection on serieller Kunst, suggesting Hörer face the challenges of mass-produced art with greater scale, drawing a parallel to his earlier Euro symbol works in Frankfurt.

Salzburg visitors are offered the Zwergelgarten as an alternative to preserve the cultural experience during the thefts.

The producer is on holiday, complicating replacements, and Hörer points to security and branding aspects of the sculptures, which were mounted on steel sockets with three screws each.

Originally 230 sculptures in mid-July, 210 went missing, translating to about 20,000 euros in financial damage, even though individual pieces could be valued up to 90 euros.

The statues are mostly under 20 inches, weather-resistant polymers installed across multiple Salzburg sites, with roughly 110 on view and 100 in reserve.