Thieves break into Dresden’s Green Vault treasure museum

DPA, 25TH NOVEMBER, 2019-A break-in has taken place at a German museum housing one of Europe’s oldest and best-preserved collection of treasures, police said.

They were expected to provide further details later Monday on the early-morning burglary at Dresden’s renowned Green Vault museum, which targeted the historic section of the collection. It contains jewels and other valuable art objects.

Newspaper reports said that there may have been losses in the millions of euros.

“Declarations on the theft’s damage are not yet possible,” the police of the state of Saxony tweeted on Monday morning, saying that the crime scene was still being examined.

The rooms of the museum normally feature strict security controls.

According to newspaper reports, the power supply to Dresden’s museum complex may have been interrupted because of a fire in an electrical box.

A spokeswoman for the Drewag energy provider confirmed that the box had to be disabled. It was not immediately clear if there was a link to the break-in.

Forensics experts were at the scene, with parts of the museum cordoned off by police. The Dresden Royal Palace housing the Green Vault was closed to visitors.

From outside, the treasury appeared intact. Its windows are protected by historic iron grids.

The premier of the state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, said that it was Saxons as a whole that had been stolen from.

“The assets that can be found in the Green Vault and the Royal Palace have been hardwon by the people of the Free State of Saxony over many centuries,” Kretschmer said.

The treasury was created between 1723 and 1730 at the behest of Augustus the Strong, the elector of Saxony.