State Gifts - 60 Years Germany

High Diplomacy

In history state gifts did not just serve to convey donor country’s estimation of the presentee country; due to their unimaginable material worth they were often – as anticipated war tolls – a peace guarantee. Many famous examples of diplomatic gifts have determined the cultural history of the occident.
The “Gold of the Scythians” and the splendid weapons and vessels of precious metals dating from the 5th and 4th century BC, the burial objects found in what is today Ukraine, Russia and Georgia in the magnificent graves of the Scythian aristocracy are a part of that tradition. Likewise the legendary elephant Hanno (born around 1510; died 8th June 1516), which King Emanuel I of Portugal (1469–1521), presented as a gift to the newly elected Pope Leo X. Hanno arrived in Rome in 1514 and quickly became the pope’s favourite animal.

Elephants had already been used as diplomatic gifts or tributes to Europe since 800, given by oriental lords, Indian princes or vassals from North Africa. Charlemagne received one and it is recorded that Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II also had one in his possession. Louis IX (Saint Louis) brought one of the thick-skinned creatures with him to France when he returned from a crusade.

A live and spectacular treasure the huge animal has been a favourite symbol since the early modern era for effectively staging the policy of European monarchs. But as a form of “living currency for the purchase of sympathy” the animal, in the long run, was unsuited. Elephants survived neither the unfamiliar climate nor the stress of their prestigious assignments.
The “circulation of gifts being passed on” in Europe killed the animals off. In this respect the collection of elephants Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl kept in his office is a special reflex of this long and grand history.