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Jewels, Treasure worth €1bn stolen from German museum

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Thieves have carried out a heist at a museum in Germany in what could be the largest museum theft in post-Second World War history.

Jewels and other treasures worth up to a billion euros from Dresden’s Gruenes Gewoelbe – or Green Vault museum – were seized, according to Germany’s Bild newspaper.

Police have sealed off the museum, which houses one of Europe’s largest collections of jewellery, with a spokesman saying: “We have not identified a perpetrator and nor have we yet made any arrests,” police spokesman Marko Laske said.”

The museum confirmed the burglary, which was at the historic part the collection in the Grünes Gewölbe. No more information was immediately available, but an update will be provided shortly, the museum said.

The collection was founded in the 18th century by August the Strong, Elector of Saxony and later King of Poland.

The thieves couldn’t get hold of its best known treasure – the 41-carat Dresden “Green Diamond” – which is currently on loan to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Michael Kretschmer, the head of Saxony, said: “The works in the Green Vault and the Palace were built up by the people of Saxony with many centuries of hard work,” adding the theft was a blow for the whole state.

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