Augustus
II the Strong (1670 – 1733), also known in Saxony as Frederick Augustus I, was
Elector of Saxony, Imperial Vicar and
elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Augustus'
great physical strength earned him the nicknames "the Strong",
"the Saxon Hercules" and "Iron-Hand". He liked to show that
he lived up to his name by breaking horseshoes with his bare hands and engaging
in fox tossing by holding the end of his sling with just one finger while two
of the strongest men in his court held the other end. He is also notable for fathering a very large
number of children. Augustus also amassed an
impressive art collection and built lavish baroque palaces in Dresden and
Warsaw. His
reigns brought Poland some troubled times. He led the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth in the Great Northern War, which allowed the Russian Empire to
strengthen its influence in Europe, especially within Poland.
Dresden is the capital
city of the German state of Saxony and is the state's second-most populous
city after Leipzig. Dresden is
contiguous with Freital, Pirna, Radebeul, Meissen and Coswig, the largest in Saxony. Most of Dresden's
population lives in the Elbe Valley. The
name of the city as well as the names of most of its boroughs and rivers are of
Slavic origin.
The Grünes Gewölbe (Green Vault) in Dresden is a unique
a historic museum that contains the largest collection of treasures in Europe.
Founded by Augustus the Strong in 1723, it features a rich variety of exhibits
from the Baroque to Classicism. After
the devastation of World War II, the Grünes Gewölbe was completely restored.
Today, its treasures are shown in two exhibitions: The Historic Green Vault
(Historisches Grünes Gewölbe) is famous for its splendors of the historic
treasure chamber as it existed in 1733, while the New Green Vault (Neues Grünes
Gewölbe) focuses the attention on each individual object in neutral rooms.
The Grünes
Gewölbe is located on the first and second floors of the western section of the
Dresdner Residenzschloss. It is now part of the Dresden State Art Collections.
The history of the "Green Vault" goes back to the year 1547 when
elector Moritz of Saxony initiated the building of an additional west wing to
the palace. Four of the new rooms on the first floor were given elaborate,
molded plaster ceilings. The column bases and their capitals were painted with
a characteristic bluish-green paint. Due to this color, the rooms were soon
known as the "Green Vault", and the name has endured. The official
name of the suite of rooms, which was protected against fire and robbery by
thick walls, iron shutters, and doors, was "Privy Repository" ~ it is
now in news for wrong reasons.
Thieves broke into
Dresden's Grünes Gewölbe early morning of 25.11.19 and stole priceless treasures, police said. The
eastern German museum houses one of Europe's largest collection of
treasures. Gold, rock crystal and
diamonds sparkle in this treasure trove of Augustus the Strong. Today, the
Green Vault combines old and new: while the Historic Green Vault on the ground
floor of the Residenzschloss allows visitors to immerse themselves in the
authentically restored rooms of the Schatzkammer, the Neue Grüne Gewölbe, one
floor up, displays the very special individual pieces - impressively
illuminated behind glass. Two thieves
were seen on camera entering through a window and later escaping in a vehicle.
Police said there may be more people involved. Police said the thieves targeted
the historic section of the museum. The thieves stole at least three priceless
18th-century jewelry sets, according to General Director of Staatliche
Kunstsammlungen Dresden Marion Ackermann. She said the material value was low,
but the worth from its historic and cultural value was impossible to gauge. "We
are shocked by the brutality of the burglary," Ackermann said.
The museum's power
supply was possibly sabotaged by a fire before the break-in. The responsible
energy supplier confirmed the incident and said it was investigating if the two
events were linked. Police said power failure plunged the entire area into
darkness, making video analysis difficult. Ackermann told German broadcaster
ZDF later Monday that multiple alarms were triggered by the burglary itself and
through motion detectors in the room. Police were notified with the first
alarm. She also said the perpetrators "couldn't take everything with them
because all the objects were also individually secured and were sewn with
stitches into the ground."
The high-profile heist
comes after a 100 kilogram (220 pounds), 24-carat giant gold coin was stolen
from Berlin's Bode Museum in 2017. Volker Lange, the head of Dresden police,
said the thieves smashed a window and cut through a fence before approaching
and breaking open a display cabinet in the Grünes Gewölbe’s Jewel Room in “a
targetted manner”. Officers were at the scene within minutes of being alerted
to the robbery shortly before 5am local time, but the suspects had escaped. A
burning car found in Dresden early on Monday may have been the getaway vehicle,
police said. They have set up roadblocks on motorway approach roads around the
city in an attempt to prevent the suspects from leaving. But the close
proximity of the gallery to the autobahn is likely to have helped the thieves’
speedy escape, police said.
One of the oldest museums
in Europe, the Grünes Gewölbe holds treasures including a 63.8cm figure of a
Moor studded with emeralds and a 547.71-carat sapphire gifted by Tsar Peter I
of Russia. Entrance to the historic vault must be reserved in advance, and
there is a strict limit on the number of daily visitors. The Grünes Gewölbe alone consists of 10 rooms
teeming with about 3,000 items of jewellery and other masterpieces. The
building was heavily damaged during the second world war but has been
successfully restored, reopening to great international fanfare in 2006. It has
been a tourist magnet since 1724 when it first opened to the public.
Saxony’s interior
minister, Roland Wöller, said: “This is a bitter day for the cultural heritage
of Saxony. The thieves stole cultural treasures of immeasurable worth – that is
not only the material worth but also the intangible worth to the state of
Saxony, which is impossible to estimate.” Wöller said police had already set up
a special team of investigators to pursue the case. “We will do everything in
our power not only to bring the cultural treasures back but to capture the
perpetrators,” he said. Investigators in
Germany has offered a €500,000 (£426,000) (Rs. 3.95 crores) reward for
information about Dresden heist. Police said the reward was being offered to
anyone providing information “which could lead … to the capture of the
perpetrators or the recovery of the stolen items”.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
30th Nov. 2019.
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