THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Tuesday, November 26, 2019 |A
where the jewels were dis-
played were damaged during
World War II and their con-
tent plundered by the Soviet
Red Army. But the collection
was returned in 1958 and the
royal residence that originally
housed it was renovated in the
early 2000s. The Green Vault
eventually reopened in 2006
as a near-perfect replica of the
original chamber.
Ms. Becker, the historian,
said the Green Vault collection
stood alone in the world for the
vast breadth of its jewels from
the 18th century, an era when
European artisans were begin-
ning to use diamonds in high-
art jewelry.
The Green Vault collection,
Ms. Becker said, was unique
for having been assembled
contemporaneously by royalty
in Saxony.
“There’s nothing like it in
the world, in one place,” she
said. “It was the symbol of
man’s highest achievement at
that age. It is very much more
than jewelry.”ond spectacular burglary in
Germany in recent years. Ear-
lier this year, the trial began
for four men charged with the
2017 theft of a giant gold coin
from Berlin’s Bode Museum.
The coin, weighing some 220
pounds and valued at €3.
million ($4.1 million), hasn’t
been recovered.
Around 90% of museum
thefts are linked to someone
with ties to the institution, ac-
cording to the Denver-based
International Foundation for
Cultural Property, which sug-
gested that German authori-
ties would likely scrutinize the
palace staff for clues.
Monday’s heist is a devas-
tating blow to the Green Vault,
one of Europe’s largest trea-
sure chambers. The gallery of
eight lavishly decorated rooms
houses the eclectic collection
of artworks, jewelry and curi-
osities amassed by Augustus
the Strong, a Saxon ruler who
also became king of Poland in
the 18th century.
The Baroque-era roomsWORLD NEWS
known in English as the Green
Vault.
Police descriptions and se-
curity footage offered a de-
tailed account of Monday’s
heist. Shortly before 5 a.m. lo-
cal time, the thieves broke into
Dresden Castle through a win-
dow on Sophienstrasse and
made their way through the
building to the Jewelry Room in
the Green Vault.
Following widely practiced
protocol, the castle’s unarmed
security staff alerted local po-
lice upon spotting the bur-
glary in progress on surveil-
lance cameras, which showed
at least two suspects wearing
dark, hooded clothing, carry-
ing flashlights and repeatedly
swinging an ax into a glass
showcase until it split open.
The first police car arrived at
the museum at 5:04, but by then
the criminals had cleared out.
Authorities believe the
thieves left the scene in an
Audi A6. A vehicle matching
that description was found on
fire in a nearby garage. Crimi-
nologists working on the case
suspect a link to another fire at
an electrical box that cut power
to streetlights in the area.
Soaring art prices and sys-
tematic security flaws at mu-
seums are attracting a new
generation of art thieves, many
of whom have started taking
art by force in broad daylight
rather than by stealth like the
Dresden thieves, according to
the International Council of
Museums, a nonprofit organi-
zation representing at least
1,900 museums and galleries
around the world.
Last week, a burglar tried
to walk out of London’s Dul-
wich Picture Gallery with a
pair of Rembrandt van Rijn
paintings before being spotted
by police. The burglar sprayed
a substance on an officer and
escaped without arrest, leav-
ing the artworks behind.
Days later, a pair of metal-
detector enthusiasts in Eng-
Continued from Page One
Predawn
Jewel Grab
In Germany
perts said, for any of the Dres-
den pieces to be fenced. U.S.
residents are the biggest buy-
ers in the estimated $6 billion
global black market for art,
according to the Federal Bu-
reau of Investigation.
Monday’s heist is the sec-lice agency Interpol launched
its online database of stolen
art world-wide in August, it
listed around 34,000 objects.
The London-based Art Loss
Register also flags and tracks
thousands of missing art-
works, making it difficult, ex-land were jailed for stealing an
ancient hoard of Viking-era
jewelry and coins from a Here-
fordshire field in 2015 and
seeking to sell them rather
than report their discovery, as
required under British law.
When the international po-1Dresden Jewel Heist
Theburglarsbrokeinto
theDresden Castle
throughawindowon
Sophienstrasse.Theymadetheirwayto
theJewelryRoomlocated
nearthecenterofThe Green
Vaultonthefirstfloor.(^2) Policesaidthesuspectsescapedin
anAudiA6,similartoavehicle
discoveredonfireinaparkinggarage
onKötzschenbroder Strasse.
3
(^11)
2
3
So
phienstrasse
Taschenberg
ElbeRiver
ElbeR.
DRESDEN
Policealsodiscovered
afireatapower
distributionboxnear
theAugustusBridge
thattheybelieveis
linkedtotheheist.
Dresden
Castle
complex
Castle complex
Augustus
Bridge
Dresden
Cathedral
Old and New
Green Vaults
Sources: Google Earth (image); Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (vaults) Note: The Old and New Green Vaults are on the first and second floors
SEBASTIAN KAHNERT/DPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Police investigators walking outside Dresden Castle, where jewels
including an 18th-century string of pearls were stolen Monday.
JUERGEN KARPINSKI/STAATLICHE KUNSTSAMMLUNGEN DRESDEN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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