A year after priceless 18th-century jewelry sets were stolen from Dresden's Grünes Gewölbe museum, here's a look back at how the spectacular theft unfolded.
Inside one of the eight rooms of Dresden's Green VaultImage: Sebastian Kahnert/picture alliance/dpa
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Last Tuesday's large-scale police raids in Berlin were just a week short of the actual day on which, one year ago, thieves broke into Dresden's Grünes Gewölbe museum and stole invaluable historical pieces.
Police have arrested three suspects, but there is still no trace of the loot; experts fear the jewel-encrusted works of art have been broken up and will never be recovered.
Here's a look back at the events and the main facts surrounding the brazen heist:
How the theft happened on November 25, 2019
On November 25 at 4 a.m., the burglars started a fire near the Grünes Gewölbe museum, known as the Green Vault in English. It destroyed the building's power box, disabling some of the alarm systems. The gang then cut through iron bars and broke into the Green Vault.
The thieves stole three priceless sets of 18th-century jewelry in a matter of minutes.
Security cameras captured the thieves in actionImage: Reuters/Saxony Police Department
Security camera footage showed two suspects entering the room, waving flashlights across the black-and-white-tiled floor. They smashed a glass display case with an ax and took three sets of jewelry.
According to the director of the Green Vault, the suspects would have had about one minute after destroying the case to take all they could. But one minute was enough: They escaped with a loot worth approximately €1 billion ($1.2 billion).
What is the Green Vault?
The museum, situated in Dresden Castle, houses one of Europe's biggest treasure collections.
Elector of Saxony Frederick Augustus (Augustus II the Strong) had erected a baroque palace between 1723 and 1729 to publicly display his collection of treasures. This palace is now the Green Vault museum, making it one of the world's oldest museums. It's also one of Dresden's most popular tourist attractions and has some 3,000 pieces on display.
The Green Vault houses more than 3,000 objects of enormous valueImage: Matthias Hiekel/picture-alliance/dpa
What was stolen?
The stolen pieces included jewel-encrusted buttons and cuff links and a sword, which had nearly 800 diamonds set into the handle and hilt. There was also a set of jewelry that belonged to a queen of Saxony, Amalie Auguste, who ruled in the 19th century.
The single most valuable stone taken in the robbery was the famed 49-carat Dresden White Diamond, originally from India. Augustus the Strong had gained possession of the stone in 1728, during his reign as elector of Saxony.
The priceless treasures stolen from Germany's Green Vault
In 2019, thieves robbed the opulent museum in Dresden, making off with dazzling jewels. Some of them remain missing to this day.
A treasure chest robbed
The unique jewel sets were the special attraction of the Green Vault. Among the stolen pieces are the diamond jewelry of former Saxon queens, a military star of the Polish Order of the White Eagle, and a diamond-encrusted sword. They were kept in display cases that the thieves broke into in November 2019.
Star of the Order of the White Eagle
The ornate breast star was made in 1746-49 by goldsmith Jean Jacques Pallard using diamonds, rubies, gold and silver. Receiving the star was a rare honor: By the time Saxon Elector and King of Poland Augustus II the Strong died in 1733, he had appointed only 40 Knights to the Order of the White Eagle.
An aigrette is a type of hair ornament. This piece, a stolen item from the collection in Dresden, was designed in the shape of a sun. It was made at some point between 1782 and 1807 and belongs to the collection of brilliant jewelry owned by the former queens of Saxony. It consists of 127 diamonds and is constructed of silver.
This over-the-top sword hilt was designed by several jewelers in the 18th century. It consists of nine larger diamonds and 770 smaller ones, as well as a number of silver, gold, steel and velvet elements. What happened to it after the theft is anyone's guess.
Saxony's ruler Augustus II the Strong (1670-1733) wanted to create artistic gesamtkunstwerk, mixed artistic forms, in Dresden during his reign. Between 1723 and 1730, he had a Baroque building erected to express his vision of wealth and power. This palace, now the Green Vault museum, reflects this opulent vision and to this day remains full of significant works of art and valuable jewels.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
Time traveling in the White Silver Room
The White Silver Room is one of eight chambers that comprise the Green Vault. Visiting the collection is like traveling back in time to the Baroque era, as one browses the 3,000 objects in the collection. The Green Vault opened to the public as early as 1724. Visitors were only allowed to enter in small groups and, according to the king's wish, "with clean clothing."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
August the Strong: Patron of the arts and lover of excess
Augustus II the Strong had his Dresden residence expanded according to the French model. He held court in the style of Louis XIV, depleting Saxony's finances in the process. The coat of arms of the elector of Saxony can still be found in the ornate building.
Image: picture-alliance/ ZB
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Other items included diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire jewelry and a diamond-encrusted medal that had belonged to Augustus the Strong during his nine-year reign as king of Poland.
Authorities say the stolen goods have incalculable historical value.
"There is nowhere, in any other collection in Europe, jewels or jewel sets that have been preserved in this form and quality and quantity as these royal sets," Dirk Syndram, director of the Green Vault said after the heist.
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Who were the thieves?
Police arrived on the scene five minutes after security personnel triggered the alarm, but the thieves had fled in a car which was later found torched.
Prosecutors indicated the suspects belong to the "Berlin clan network," an organized crime syndicate. One of the suspects had already been convicted for the theft of a 100-kilogram (220 pound) gold coin called the "Big Maple Leaf," which was taken from the Bode museum in Berlin in 2017.
It was valued at roughly €3.8 million ($4.4 million). The thieves had used a wheelbarrow to move the coin to their getaway car. It was an inside job: A freshly hired security guard was discovered to have been in on the theft.
The police raids on November 17, 2020
Nearly one year after the Green Vault robbery, more than 1,600 police swooped on the Berlin district of Neukölln. They raided 18 properties and searched garages and vehicles.
Police arrested three people suspected of taking part, including the man already convicted over his involvement in the gold coin heist. He had lost an appeal and was awaiting final sentencing when the clan members carried out the Green Vault robbery.
An international manhunt is still underway for two other suspects, identified as 21-year-old male twins from the same clan.
No trace of the jewels has been found.
The most spectacular art robberies in history
Armed to their teeth, or disguised as policemen — time and again, thieves have pilfered valuable art objects and paintings. Now, gold coins have been robbed from Bavaria's Celtic Museum.
Image: Frank Mächler/dpa/picture alliance
Like a 'classic' heist movie
Thieves have stolen a collection of almost 500 gold coins from the Celtic Museum in Manching, Bavaria. The 2,000-year-old treasure was the museum's highlight. It is still unclear how the perpetrators were able to switch off the alarm systems. The police described the burglary as having been executed in a classic way, as in "a bad movie," while Bavaria's culture minister called it a "disaster."
Image: Frank Mächler/dpa/picture alliance
Breaking into one of the world's oldest museums
The Green Vault in Dresden's Royal Palace is one of the most famous treasure chambers of Europe. Early in the morning of November 25, 2019, burglars broke into the museum and stole three sets of jewelry from the early 18th century. The works made up of diamond, ruby and emerald gems are seen as "priceless." German newspaper Bild called it "probably the biggest art theft since World War II."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kahnert
When Mona Lisa's smile disappeared
The world's most famous portrait, Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," was stolen in 1911. A young Italian named Vincenzo Peruggia took the painting from the Louvre in Paris. Dressed as a member of the museum staff, he was able to hide the relatively small painting under his work coat. It reappeared in 1913 after an art dealer alerted the police.
Rembrandt's portrait of "Jacques III de Gheyn" wasn't stolen from Britain's Dulwich Picture Gallery just once, but four times, namely in 1966, 1973, 1981 and 1986. That's why it came to be nicknamed the "Takeaway Rembrandt." Fortunately the painting has been recovered after each theft.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Art robbery in Boston remains a mystery
The burglary of 13 paintings from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum stirred international attention in 1990. Two men disguised as policemen broke into the building and removed the paintings, among them Edouard Manet's "Chez Tortoni" and Jan Vermeer's "Concert" (pictured). The empty picture frames are still hanging on the walls.
Image: Gemeinfrei
Spectacular Van Gogh theft
In 1991, a man managed to lock himself into a bathroom in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam — unnoticed. With the help of a warden, he removed a total of 20 paintings, among them the Dutch painter's "Self-Portrait with Easel." However, police were able to recover the works from the getaway car just one hour later. The thieves were caught a few months later.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Van Weel
Da Vinci disappeared for years
"Madonna of the Yarnwinder" by Leonardo da Vinci, valued at €70 million ($72 million), was stolen from a Scottish castle in 2003. Two thieves who entered an exhibition as tourists overpowered the security guard at Drumlanrig Castle and fled with the precious artwork. It remained lost for years until it was discovered during a raid in Glasgow in 2007.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Armed assault on the Munch Museum
Two paintings by expressionist Edvard Munch, "The Scream" and "Madonna," were stolen in Oslo in 2004. Two armed robbers invaded the Munch Museum and, witnessed by numerous visitors, ripped the paintings from the wall. Police were able to retrieve the two famous paintings. However, "The Scream" was damaged so badly during the incident that it could never be fully restored.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Munch Museum Oslo
Europe's biggest art burglary
In 2008, armed thieves pilfered four paintings amounting to a total value of 180 million Swiss francs (€183 million, $189 million) from the collection Bührle in Zurich. "The Boy in the Red Vest" by Paul Cézanne, "Ludovic Lepic and His Daughters" by Edgar Degas, "Blossoming Chestnut Branches" by Vincent van Gogh, and "Poppy Field Near Vétheuil" by Claude Monet (pictured) all resurfaced later on.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images
Theft of a 100-kilo gold coin in Berlin
In March 2017, a huge gold coin weighing 100 kilos was stolen from Berlin's Bode Museum. Just its sheer material value alone amounts to four million dollars. It is believed that the thieves found their way into the building through a window. The "Big Maple Leaf" coin originated in Canada. It is 53 cm high and 3 cm thick. On the front side, it bears an image of Queen Elizabeth II.