German authorities have announced that they have recovered "a significant portion" of the items stolen in 2019 in an 18th-century jewelry heist from the National Museum.
The revelation comes as the trial of six suspects in the daring robbery of the "Green Vault" (Grünes Gewölbe) at the Royal Palace in Dresden in November 2019 is underway. The trial began in January.
The thieves managed to steal 21 jewels and other valuable objects worth 119 million dollars from the collection created in 1723, of the Saxon ruler Augustus the Strong and then the king of Poland, who deposited more precious jewels in the collection.
Augustus was influenced by his visit to the palace of the French king Louis XIV in Versailles in 1689, and wanted to imitate the wealth of the French king, like many of the kings and princes of the time.
In 1723 he finished building his palace, where the collection has been housed ever since.
Included in the collection were a diamond-studded sword and an item in which the famous 49-carat Dresden white diamond was set.
Also stolen were rubies, emeralds and sapphires measuring 547.71 carats - a gift from Tsar Peter I of Russia.
The museum in Dresden is one of the oldest in Europe and contains 10 rooms, in which 3,000 pieces of jewelry and art.
Other items from the collection include a table-shaped statue of an Indian royal court made of gold, silver, enamel, precious stones and diamonds.
Another item is a set of coffee utensils made of gold and decorated with Shoham stones.
Of the stolen items (Photo: Reuters)
A sword hilt decorated with diamonds (Photo: Reuters)
A piece of jewelry stolen during the robbery (Photo: Reuters)
A piece of jewelry stolen during the robbery (Photo: Reuters)
The discovery of the jewelry was made possible after talks between the defense and the prosecution regarding the settlement.
The recovery of the stolen jewelry led the police to a breakthrough, the police and the prosecution said without further details.
Now, experts will examine the jewels to verify their provenance.
In November 2020, the German police arrested three suspects involved in a robbery.
They were accused of stealing more than 12 diamond-encrusted objects from the "green safe".
A police officer in a raid in Berlin as part of the robbery investigation (Photo: Reuters)
The MZP team investigates the robbery (Photo: Reuters)
As part of the investigation, around 1,600 police raided locations in several German states.
The three arrested were, as far as is known, members of a crime family from Berlin, and were accused of "serious group robbery and two offenses of arson".
Police said the investigation focused on searches for the stolen artefacts and various evidence, including "storage files, clothing and belongings".
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