Three sets of 18th century jewelry of “immeasurable worth” have been stolen in dramatic heist, described as the biggest theft since the second world war. Thieves in Dresden, Germany, have stolen the pieces from Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) at Dresden’s Royal Palace, one of Europe’s largest collection of art treasures. The Guardian has the details:
German media reported the losses from the burglary could run into the high hundreds of millions of euros, but the director of Dresden’s state art collections, Marion Ackermann, said it was impossible to estimate the value of the items.
“We cannot give a value because it is impossible to sell,” she said, appealing to the thieves not to break the collections into pieces. “The material value doesn’t reflect the historic meaning.”
Ackermann said the stolen items included three “priceless” sets of diamonds, including brilliant-cut diamonds which belonged to an 18th-century collection of jewellery assembled by the museum’s founder.
Created by Augustus the Strong, the Elector of Saxony, in 1723, the Grünes Gewölbe is one of 12 museums which make up the famous Dresden state art collections. It got its name because some rooms were decorated with malachite-green paint.
image credit: via The Guardian