Overview

• Restoration work at the Schlosskirche Buch on July 8 revealed a late-18th-century wooden coffin richly decorated with gilded moldings and medallions in an unmarked brick vault.
• Berlin State Monument Office archaeologists spent two weeks analysing the coffin’s location and neoclassical ornamentation against historical records to support its identification.
• The unmarked, solitary burial matches written accounts of von Voß’s personal wish for a discreet interment following her death from tuberculosis in 1789.
• Officials declined proposals to open the fragile coffin for skeletal or DNA analysis to preserve the grave’s integrity and respect the countess’s repose.
• The discovery offers rare insights into the funerary customs of high-ranking Prussian women and the private burial preferences of the royal consort.