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The Green Vault (; ) is a museum located in Dresden, Germany, which contains the largest treasure collection in Europe.Dirk Syndram, Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden, 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , p. 16 The museum was founded in 1723 by Augustus the Strong of Poland and Saxony, and features a variety of exhibits in styles from Baroque to Classicism. The Green Vault is named after the formerly malachite green-painted column bases and capitals of the initial rooms. It has some claim to be the oldest museum in the world; it is older than the British Museum, opened in 1759, but the Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg, Russia was opened in 1714 and the Vatican Museums date their foundation to the public display of the newly excavated Laocoön group in 1506.
After the bombing of Dresden during World War II, the Green Vault 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 Green Vault is located on the first and second floors of the western section of Dresden Castle. It is now part of the Dresden State Art Collections.
Throughout the 17th century, the Privy Repository was used by the rulers of the Electorate of Saxony as a private treasure chamber for important documents and jewelry. Then, between 1723 and 1729, the elector Frederic Augustus I, today referred to as Augustus the Strong, turned the private chambers into a public museum. First, he commanded splendid rooms to be created in which to display his collection. The Pretiosensaal (Hall of Treasures) and the Eckkabinett (Corner Cabinet) were listed as completed in the inventory of 1725; they reached their present-day form in this construction phase.Dirk Syndram et al., The Baroque Treasury at the Grünes Gewölbe Dresden, 1st ed. Munich: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2007, , pp. 6-7 An extension followed in 1727. Augustus’ intentions have been preserved on a ground plan from 1727 on which he drew his ideas. As in the first construction phase, the architect Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann planned and built a museum-like, artistic structure of German Baroque grandeur.Fritz Löffler: Das alte Dresden - Geschichte seiner Bauten. 16th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, A suite of eight interconnecting rooms was constructed whose architectural beauty complemented the abundance and quality of the priceless treasures. Augustus the Strong could now exhibit his entire collection of valuables, including bronze statues and works of art in silver, gold, amber and ivory. The sequence of rooms was deliberately staged, presenting the objects according to their materials. By the end of his almost four-decade-long reign in 1733, Augustus the Strong had made his crown treasures and his inherited riches accessible to the public – an unprecedented innovation in the Baroque period.
The Green Vault was severely damaged in the February 13, 1945 bombing of Dresden in World War II. Three of the eight rooms were totally destroyed. At the end of the war in 1945, the treasures were confiscated by the Red Army and transported to the Soviet Union. After their return to Dresden in 1958, part of the collection was displayed at the Albertinum.
On 25 November 2019, the Green Vault was broken into, and three sets of early 18th century royal jewellery were stolen. Each set consists of 37 items, made up of , ruby, , and . It was estimated that the stolen items were worth up to 1 billion (US$1.1 billion).
In December 2022, investigators found 31 objects stolen in the 2019 burglary, reportedly after talks with the lawyers of six men on trial for the theft.
In May 2023, five men were found guilty of the heist. The robbers were a part of the Remmo clan, a criminal clan that is involved in organised crime and conducted raids on a department store and a bank robbery. One of the thieves was also involved in the theft of a gold coin from the Bode museum in Berlin.
Entrance to the Historic Green Vault requires advance purchase of tickets for a specific entry time slot. A limited number of tickets is also sold every morning. The New Green Vault can be visited at any time.
With these treasure chambers, Augustus the Strong realised his vision of a Baroque Gesamtkunstwerk (synthesis of the arts) as an expression of wealth and absolutist power. He presented his treasures to a select public, thus establishing the Green Vault as one of Europe's oldest museums.
The Jewel Garnitures (Juwelen-Garnituren) constitute the largest collection of jewels in Europe. They represented the monarchs' claim of absolute power. Here, the "Dresden White" or "Saxon White" ( Sächsische Weiße), a carat cushion-shaped diamond, is on display.Dirk Syndram, Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden, 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , pp. 166-173 Also unique is a sapphire, a present from czar Peter I of Russia.
Three of the Jewel Garnitures were removed during a robbery on 25 November 2019. So far they have yet to be recovered.
The jewel-studded obelisk Obeliscus Augustalis was made by Johann Melchior Dinglinger in 1719–21. The high obelisk with 240 stones and figures was acquired by Augustus the Strong directly from Dinglinger's workshop.Dirk Syndram, Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden, 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , pp. 156-157 This cabinet piece, conceived as an indoor monument, shows a portrait of Augustus the Strong at the centre of the monument. He is presented as a king revered by peoples from classical antiquity, as becomes obvious by the cameos of famous men and women from this classical period skillfully carved on the shaft of the obelisk.
The "Large Ivory Frigate Supported by Neptune" was the last work of Jacob Zeller. It was completed in the summer of 1620, a few months before his death. The frigate, with a crew of almost 50 tiny sailors made of ivory, is supported by the god of the seas. One of the mainsails, also made of extremely thin ivory, displays the coat of arms of elector Johann Georg I and his wife Magdalene Sibylle.Dirk Syndram, Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden, 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , pp. 90-91
The "Golden Coffee Service" presents the cups and saucers and sugar bowls on an elaborate pyramidal etagère surmounted by the coffeepot, all in enameled gold, a cabinet piece unique in Europe. Here, Dinglinger masterfully combines the most diverse artistic forms to produce an avantgarde work of art which can be regarded as one of the first manifestations of the fashion for chinoiserie. Augustus took the recently completed ensemble with him to Warsaw at Christmas 1701, to dazzle the nobles of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, of which he was the nominal ruler.Dirk Syndram, Das Grüne Gewölbe – The Green Vault – Le Voûte Verte, 3rd ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , p. 62
"The Royal Household at Delhi on the Occasion of the Birthday of the Grand Mogul Aurangzeb" represents contemporary European fantasies of "Oriental despotism" in India. At the time, Augustus the Strong was under serious threat due to setbacks in the Nordic Wars. In contrast, the Grand Mogul embodies the dream of absolute power and immeasurable riches. This masterpiece of European jewelers’ art comprises 4,909 diamonds, 164 emeralds, 160 rubies, a sapphire, 16 pearls and two cameos. It was created by the royal goldsmith Johann Melchior Dinglinger, his brothers and others, between 1701 and 1708. The elector paid almost 60,000 Thaler for it, more than he did for the construction of Moritzburg Castle.Wolfgang Kootz: Dresden, Illustrated guide to the state capital and surrounding area, B&V Verlag, 2010, pp. 40-41.
The "Bath of Diana" (or "Diana Bathing") was Dinglinger's favorite work: the goddess Diana, carved out of ivory, is seated at the edge of a chalcedony bowl in a filigree that is supported between the horns of a stag's head. Two dolphins spew water into the bowl for her bath.Géza von Habsburg, Princely Treasures, New York: Vendome, 1997, , p. 90. A pearl is suspended in place of the shaft, while the bowl seems to float on the tips of the stag's antlers. This piece depicts the mythological scene in which the unapproachable Diana changes the hunter Actaeon into a deer and has him torn to pieces by his own dogs for having watched her bathing.Dirk Syndram, Prunkstücke des Grünen Gewölbes zu Dresden, 5th ed. Leipzig: Seemann, 2006, , pp. 122-123 The base of the piece presents the forest floor, upon which lies the head of the stag Actaeon, with the dogs falling ravenously upon it. The inscription picked out in diamonds on the rim of the base reads, "DISCRETION SERT EFFRONTERIE PERD" ("Discretion is laudable, indiscretion unwise").von Habsburg, p. 92.
The Dresden Green Diamond is the most valuable diamond in the whole Green Vault. The stone's unique green color is due to natural exposure to radioactive materials. It was acquired by Augustus III of Poland from a Dutch merchant in 1742 at the Leipzig Fair. Augustus ordered his "house diamond" to be mounted into a decorative badge of the Golden Fleece. His grandson Frederick Augustus I of Saxony commissioned the Dresden court jeweler Diesbach to alter it radically. The framed diamond was incorporated into an extremely valuable hat ornament. It became the focal point of a high hat clasp, where it was surrounded by two large colorless diamonds of and carat plus 411 additional medium-sized and small diamonds. This is the setting that the Dresden Green Diamond still appears in today.
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