Art: Madonna from Essen

From the outside, Schloss Rheydt is just another moated Rhineland castle. Within, it is an art lover’s eyeful. There the British have collected German ecclesiastical art treasures, rescued by the Western Allies from their wartime hideouts.

Most of the statues, paintings and tapestries have not been seen in six years; many have never before been exhibited in a museum. Standout in the priceless collection is the famed 11th Century Essen Madonna, a 30-inch, gold-covered wooden statue that spent the war years in a damp tunnel. Now, in the 16th Century castle which Goebbels commandeered as a summer home, the wide-eyed Madonna sits serene in a gilded bathroom.