After being stolen in a multi-million dollar heist in 2019 and recovered in subsequent years, the historical Green Vault jewels are back on display in Dresden, Germany.
Located in the city’s Royal Palace, the Grünes Gewölbe, or Green Vault, was started as a dedicated effort for storing precious metals, art, and artifacts collected by Saxon elector August the Strong, who later become king of Poland from 1723 and 1729.
Five members of a criminal gang broke into the Green Vault in a nighttime heist in November 2019. They were sentenced to six years in prison for stealing the trove of 18th-century jewelry last year.
The group, known as the Remmo Clan, a family crime network operating in Germany, smashed the glass in the display cases using an axe, pocketed 21 pieces of jewelry, and fled within five minutes. The looted Saxon royal artifacts contain more than 4,300 diamonds and is collectively valued at €114 million (about $125 million). The thieves were ultimately sentenced on charges of armed robbery, aggravated arson, and grievous bodily harm.
The Green Vault announced the public reopening of the gems and other relics with an exhibition restored to “almost all its glory”, with the majority of the jewels having been recovered.
“The jewels are presented exactly as they were returned to the [Dresden State Art Collections] — with damage that is barely visible, although in need of restoration,” Marion Ackermann, director general of the Dresden State Art Collections, said in a statement.
Following the heist, the regional court allowed the recovered artifacts to be returned to the museum for display.
“In 2019, criminal clans from Berlin took possession of our cultural heritage,” Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer said in German in a post on X. “But we fought for our treasure!”
Though the breast star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle decorated in diamonds and a diamond-covered sword were recovered by German law enforcement authorities in late 2022, a large breast bow of Queen Amalie Auguste, made of 611 small diamonds, silver and gold, and an epaulet that includes the so-called Saxon White diamond, is still among the items missing.
An international commission of experts is expected to convene on how to restore the recovered jewels.
