Nearly a hundred pieces of priceless 18th-century jewelry have been stolen from one of Europe’s most renowned treasure collections in Dresden’s Grünes Gewölbe gallery, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Experts are reportedly calling the theft “one of the greatest jewelry heists in history.” According to German authorities, at least two suspects were caught on camera entering the Grünes Gewölbe gallery through a window at 5 a.m. on Monday morning. Personnel on duty immediately notified the police, but the suspects fled before their arrival, taking at least three sets of jewelry with them.
An exact estimate for the value of the stolen pieces has yet to be disclosed, with Marion Ackermann, general director of the state art collection in Dresden, saying the artifacts “are not for sale.”
London-based jewelry historian and author Vivienne Becker added that it is impossible to calculate the monetary value of the stolen jewels due to their unique historical significance. “It’s certainly one of the greatest art robberies in history,” she told the WSJ. “It’s as if someone broke into the Louvre and had taken the Mona Lisa.”
Police are still investigating the theft as of Monday evening, and a manhunt for the suspects is still underway.
The heist is the second major theft to hit a German museum in the past three years. Back in 2017, four men lifted a giant gold coin from Berlin’s Bode Museum. The thieves began trial for the robbery of the 220-pound coin earlier this year.
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