Precious jewels worth £855m stolen in spectacular heist at historic Dresden museum

Historic jewellery, diamonds and precious stones worth as much as €1bn (£855m) were stolen in a dramatic robbery at one of Germany’s most famous museums on Monday morning.

A gang of thieves broke into Dresden’s renowned Green Vault in the early hours of Monday morning and escaped with the valuable treasures.

Michael Kretschmer, the regional prime minister, described the robbery as a crime against the Saxon people.

The Green Vault, a baroque treasure house in the former royal palace of the House of Wettin, is one of the oldest art museums in Europe. Founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong, Prince-Elector of Saxony, it was destroyed in the Second World War but restored in 2006.

Its treasures include a cabinet carved from pure amber and golden statues encrusted with emeralds, as well as the Saxon crown jewels.

It was not immediately clear which items were stolen, but according to German press reports the thieves took only jewellery and precious stones, ignoring paintings and bulkier artworks.

The Green Vault collection is home to several famous gemstones, including the Dresden White, a 49.7 carat diamond, and a 648-carat sapphire that was a gift from Tsar Peter I of Russia.

The collection’s most valuable gemstone, the 41-carat Dresden Green Diamond, is believed to be safe because it was on loan to the US at the time of the heist.

The robbers are believed to have pulled off the heist by breaking into an electricity relay under the city’s Augustus Bridge and cutting the power supply to the Green Vault’s security system. They then entered the museum through a side window.

But according to German press reports they failed to cut the power supply to security cameras and police have footage which could identify those responsible.

“Not only the state art collections were robbed, but the Saxon people,” Mr Kretshmer, the regional prime minister said. “The treaures that can be found in the Green Vault and the Royal Palace have been hardwon by the people of Saxony overmany centuries.

"You can not understand the history of our land, of our state, without the Green Vault and the Saxon state art collections."